Camp Season
by The 21st Century Pendragon
Summary: Dipper and Mabel take a chance on one summer season for a month at a prestigious camp in Yellowstone. But a whole lot of dangers, happenings, revelations and coming-of-age hijinks await for the twins. So, Dipper must team up with his team of misfits from different cartoons (like "Steven Universe") to ensure that the fun will continue.
1. Prologue: Dipper

It has been a year since Weirdmageddon happened in Gravity Falls, and was stopped by Dipper and Mabel. It was indeed a life-changing experience for the twins, and it never changes from there. Now back at normalcy for a year, Dipper is still relieving of that nostalgia, from going back to the letter that was signed by his loved ones back at Gravity Falls to flipping through online articles about the peculiar pine-filled town. Even though, he has adjusted to his normal life as a middle school grader, he has moments where he has gone to the point of being reclusive about his memories. And night after night, he receives dreams, which are just surreal exaggeration of his memories in the peculiar town. Though, he never shares them to Mabel, despite her having the same experience as he does.

On one lazy Saturday, Dipper is lying on the couch in front of the TV, randomly flipping to whatever channel satisfies him. While other weekends tend to be fun for others, it is the opposite for Dipper at this time, making him look like a slacker. With a tub of Breyers Ice Cream and nachos, Dipper slacks off for the entire day. Finally, he stops to a movie channel where it shows a horror romantic story, set in the wilderness. As he relates to the two onscreen lovers who long for their togetherness, Dipper cries uncontrollably, even though he finds the story really corny (since he obviously connects the unorthodox love story to his and Wendy's). Just as he gets into the moment, he hears commotion from the door. In response, he takes an umbrella and readies to aim for whatever trouble he will stumble upon. The commotion gets noticeable, making Dipper grasp the umbrella tightly as he trembles in fear. And finally, the source of the commotion springs in front of him, and it was Mabel.

"Dipper!" Mabel calls him out, making him Dipper scream in shock.

"Mabel, will you stop stalking like that?" Dipper coaxes his sister, "And weren't in your room the last time?"

"I went to the bookshop a while ago. Haven't I told you?" Mabel addresses.

Dipper then suddenly recalls that time that Mabel is referring to. A while ago, he was lying on the couch with a phone laid on his head and the TV switched on to a telenovela. Though he heard a door shut, he never noticed it was Mabel. Mabel informed her brother, " _Dipper, heading to the bookshop today. Need anything?_ " Dipper then uttered, " _No._ " Assuming it was his confirmation, Mabel responded, " _Okay. If you need anything, just call me_ ," before she left the house. It turns out that Dipper was actually calling to a live hotline for people needing advice about anything under the sun. As for his phone conversation, it did not turned out well when the caller, a way hipper guy, threw in pop culture metaphors that he never understands. Thus, he ended the phone call immediately.

"Nope, you didn't tell me about anything," Dipper denies Mabel's claim, making the latter raise her eyebrows. "I was busy in the phone."

Mabel then notices an ice cream blot on his chin. "Uhmm you got something on your face." As her brother takes notice of it as well, Mabel pulls out a handkerchief and wipes the stain out of his chin. "What have you been doing Dipper?"

Dipper then sighs, speechless as to what he needs to say to his sister out of pining for the days back in Gravity Falls. But still, hiding does not help as Mabel comprehends his feelings.

"Look, Dipper. I know it has been a year since Gravity Falls. I am sad too that those times are over," Mabel empathizes, "But we have to move on. Life does not stop in the Mystery Shack. There a lot of new memories to make. And speaking of new memories to make…" With that, Mabel is retrieving something from her bag.

"Mabel, I'm fine. I'm fine about moving on from Gravity Falls. I just need a 'me' time by myself," Dipper defends, "And by that, I mean doing the laziest things that any guy would do."

"Quit your self-pitying, dear brother, and check this out," Mabel enthusiastically says as she hands him a brochure to a summer camp program.

"MCP Summer Camp. Have the time of your life with new friends in new adventures in one of the world's most exciting camp events ever," Dipper reads the label. "What's this, Mabel?"

"I saw this in the Internet where a lot of kids spent a whole month at Yellowstone, and they had an awesome time. I heard Candy and Grenda are going as well. So, I signed us both there. And I got slots for the both of us."

"Wait, what?"

"I already told mom and dad about this. And you wouldn't believe their faces as I told them about this. And guess what? They said 'yes'!. Yey! All we need is a final confirmation and waiver of consent. And we get to be in camp!"

"And you never told me about this?"

"I just thought it would be a surprise for you. So, surprise!"

Mabel makes a ta-da gesture out of her infectious enthusiasm. But Dipper is undeterred of his sister's suggestion, even though she gleams a bright smile to him.

"Never another exploit like this."

"Come on, Dipper. This is another time to seize another awesome moment like Gravity Falls. Please. I just want you to be happy."

As she says that, Dipper is stunned at her sister's motivation.

"I know it's hard for us to return to the same old life we had. So, I think this is the best way to recreate another memory, for us. Please Dipper! I just want you happy."

Out of sympathy, Dipper opens up the brochure to see his name printed, with just a waiver of consent and an RSVP, sealing his registration for the event. Though he is considering it, he does not know if he can be willing to seize another moment to get over his times at Gravity Falls.

But seeing his uncertain facial expression, Mabel replies, "Okay. I'll give you time. And I understand if you will not. I just thought for another brother-sister quality time." At such a fall from her earlier happier feelings, she walks out disenchanted. Noticing this, Dipper is speechless as to how he should respond to Mabel. Either way, he remains undecided if he should accept Mabel's invitation or not.

Four days later, Dipper takes out the garbage that are composed of the waste materials and dirt that he found while cleaning up his room. Out of his senses, he accidentally includes the brochure that Mabel gave him.

Just in time, the dump truck arrives near their house, and Dipper throws the trash bags from his house, the last of which was where he unnoticeably threw the brochure. Seeing the day being mundane, he deeply witnesses the trash being loaded and dragged to the trash compactor. The last bag is then ripped from pressure that releases its litter content, including the brochure, which he suddenly spots.

"Wait! Stop the truck!" Dipper calls out to the driver, "Sir! Stop the compactor!" But the driver with headphones is busy piling up the trash from the lot. In intense panic, the 13-year-old gets a stick and pastes a used bubblegum to retrieve the brochure, to no avail, as the compactor slowly shreds the waste materials.

With no other choice, Dipper hops in to the loading hopper of the trash compactor and salvages the brochure by hand. But along the way, he begins to receive repressed memories from his times at Gravity Falls that haunt him again. And one of these memories includes his first encounter with Bill Cipher. Indeed, these memories shake him in fear, as he is at the face of certain danger. But he is able to overcome this, with a strong haul of the brochure out of the pile, making him collapse to the ground. Dipper cheers at this encounter, even with a hurdle along the way. Unfortunately, his brochure is slightly torn from the top, and so does his RSVP confirmation letter. Still, Dipper is relieved as he knows what his next move is.

Meanwhile, Mabel is at her room, flipping through a scrapbook she stopped finishing, when she and Dipper were suddenly sent to Gravity Falls. She is not even halfway through the scrapbook, though she thinks of saving the rest of the pages for her moments to come.

Out of the blue, Dipper slides his brochure on top of the scrapbook to Mabel. She sees that Dipper has officially signed to the registration form and confirmed his participation for the camp, to the sheer amusement of Mabel.

"Wouldn't want to miss this summertime without my twin sister," Dipper utters.

With that, Mabel instantly embraces her twin brother as a way of showing her love and gratitude. "Thanks Dipper!" She then goes back to hugging.

"Well, how bad can it be?" Dipper utters, inconspicuous of the wildest adventures that are about to unfold.

 **ZGYZHS ULI NLD**

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 **RG RH XZNK HVZHLM, VEVM GSLFTS RG RH DRMGRI.**


	2. Chapter 1: Arrival

Summertime is really a time for fun to rule the whole season. As for Dipper and Mabel, they receive the first taste of summertime fun when they arrive in Lewis Lake Campgrounds in Yellowstone National Park for their summer camp, which has become a party madhouse. Kids are playing roughly everywhere. Camp stuffs are thrown in the air like beach balls. Some kids are turning their attention to tease the incoming visitors in their cars. Some foods are accidentally thrown to the cars. And "Jump Around" by House of Pain is even heard as the entrance party music. It is as if they passing through a college campus, complete with the frat boy-like antics.

"So sorry that I ask," Dipper reacts nonchalantly.

"Are we even in the right place?" Mabel asks. She then sees a sign for MCP Camp, which pretty much answers her question. "Never mind."

"Hey, like you said, let's make this summer count," Dipper sympathizes, lending a smile to his sister.

The Pines stop at the unloading point, where other families drop off their children. But just like how the twins arrive in Gravity Falls, the twin's parents drop off Dipper and Mabel to the camp unceremoniously. Then, they stumble upon by the camp's public bulletin, getting a good vantage point of the camp premises, which is almost party dominated.

"Well, here we are. Shall we take the rooms?" Mabel utters.

"If we know our rooms," Dipper reacts, as he takes out his camp guide/form and flips it front and back, "Does this brochure even tells where our rooms are, or even the program for that matter? Can you check yours?"

With that, Mabel checks her brochure to notice the lack of information as well. "None for me too," she confirms before Dipper swipes the brochure from her hand to check. "Well, it has a schedule."

"Yeah…a schedule that confuses arrival for assembly," Dipper expounds vehemently, "It's 9:00 AM right now, and I don't see anyone assembling." He points it out to the relentless guests who are playing at the camp grounds, as if the whole site is a beach.

"Ohhhh Dipper, you shouldn't be a grouch about this. I mean this ain't Gravity Falls."

"Really Mabel? Alright, do you even know the feelings I have when we first arrive in Gravity Falls?"

"Uhmmm…trying to think of a word that doesn't mean skeptic."

"Exactly."

"But you shouldn't take your feelings too hard."

"I don't know about you, but something tells me of our arrival in camp. If that already got you the impression."

"Oh come on, Dip. It's just their way of fun. It's not like danger is around on such an innocent camp in Yellowstone. It's just a summer camp. What could possibly go wrong?"

And just as Mabel says that, three people suddenly come out of the bushes beside the bulletin and shoot the twins with water to their faces. The projectile of the water is so strong that the twins move back from its hydraulic force.

"Hey! Watch it!" Dipper berates at them.

"Welcome to camp, guys!" those three people, who turned out to be Danny Fenton, Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley in camp uniforms, warmly greet the twins.

Soaked, Dipper chastises them for their act, "What was that for? You could have drowned us with water."

"Relax kid. It's just water," Danny says.

"Well, it got caught in my nose," Dipper articulates as he blows his nose, making water come out of his left nostril.

"Ohh, here." Danny then hands a box of tissue to Dipper. "Well, sorry if we annoyed you both. We're really not that cheery. It's just part of the contract of our summer job. We need to be 'happy all the time'.

"As Dipper blows his nose, Mabel taps his back to assist him. "Awww, poor things. It's okay. We just caught off guard from having getting here. It was kind a wild back there when we entered the campsite."

"Ohh, haven't we know what's happening in the gate?" Danny asks to his two best friends."I know Bobby and PJ are stationed there. I don't know what happened. They haven't spoken ever since," Tucker clarifies.

"Well, I guess we know what those boys are doing," Sam comments.

(Surely enough, Bobby and PJ of _Goof Troop_ are spotted in the entrance premises, rap battling pickup lines against the kids from _Hey Arnold!_ )

"Well, at least that's not the wildest thing that happened to us today," Tucker reacts.

"You're telling me, Tuck. Still remember that kid with the ice cream hair earlier who zapped us with his laser beam remote. I will not forget what he did to my hair," Sam adds with a bit of rage.

"Uhmmm if I may interrupt please, but where's the program?" Dipper asks."Yeah, and where are our rooms?" Mabel adds her concern.

"Chill, chill guys. It's just an hour before the program proper," Danny assures, "Bags will be placed in the lodge for now. And huddle is at the amphitheater. You will pick them up, once you know your teams. For now, chill. Well, not for our case."

"Mmmm great, thanks anyway. But need a change of clothes," Dipper morosely replies to them, as he drags his bags away from their spot. "Come on Mabel!"

"Well, better follow my twin brother," Mabel says as she shrugs her shoulders. "Thanks anyway guys!"

"Anytime!" Danny replies, "Oh, and watch out for us. Danny, Sam and Tucker. We might be watching over one of your teams."

"Oh, good to know. Mabel by the way, and my brother's Dipper."

"Well, nice to meet you guys. Bye!" Mabel then catches up with Dipper on his way to the lodge.

"Bye!" the trio greets back."Well, that went well, I guess," Danny comments.

"Take it easy, Danny," Tucker affirms, "That's just two that went. And more to go. I say let's hit the bushes again."

But Sam insists, "Forget the bushes, Tuck. Did you see what we did to that kid?"

"But Sam, how should we welcome guests uniquely?" Tucker inquires to his best friends.

"I don't know. Jazz's instructions are really confusing," Danny comments.

"Jazz said we should 'excitingly welcome guests'. But I don't know what 'excitingly' is she expecting. And I really hope scaring people counts," Sam adds.

"I hope it does," Tucker agrees.

"Hey, hey guys! We'll just take it easy, like befriend them, or something," Danny proudly articulates, then latches onto each of his friend's shoulders, "As long as we give them a warm smile that says we are gonna have fun of possibly another awesome summer."

And just as Danny gives his assurance, two kids throw several water balloons to them from on top of a tree. They turn out to be Bart Simpson and Milhouse van Houten.

"That's for the water gun tirade earlier!" Bart joshes in his signature evil grin.

"Oh, look at their faces, Bart!" Millhouse makes a fool on the soaked faces of Danny, Sam and Tucker. As the two laugh at the success of their pranks for a certain amount of time, the two troublemakers then fall to the ground from the fragile branch they are sitting at. "We're okay. We just need Kool Aid, or Band Aid, man," Bart utters.

"Let's just do it inside," Danny says.

"Totally. I just fixed this hair a while ago!" Sam vents.

"Chill, Sam," Tucker pacifies her, as the trio walk to the lodge.

"As if you understand how hard it is to straighten a messed up hair," Sam replies.

The morning continues as more guests arrive in the campsite before the 10:00 AM assembly and more characters pack up the surroundings.

 _The next four main characters will be arriving on the next chapter, and more characters will converge for this adventure._


	3. Chapter 2: Home

More kids gather to the site and begin to converge to the amphitheater for the official launching of the investiture. It is truly a wild party where the beginning is the climax as more campers arrive.

One of them is Steven Universe, who arrives in his dad's trailer. He gets out of the motor home to witness an ecstatic sight before his eyes. "Wow, first camping with other kids? This is gonna be awesome!" he hollers in excitement. "Come on Connie!"

The slightly timid Connie Maheswaran drags herself out of the trailer but avoids certain confrontation. "Steven, slow down. We might not know what's coming."

"Sure, we do," Steven replies, "We are about to fun."

Suddenly, a bunch of eggs rains down on them. Clearly, they originate from the kids from _Super Noobs_ , playing with souvenir egg launchers. Yet, Steven and Connie do not mind them.

"Is this the fun you are talking about?" Connie reacts.

The eggs then rain down on the trailer that made Greg Universe to take notice of and to get out of the vehicle. "Okay, where are those eggs coming from?" he asks. Then, more eggs rain down on his head. "I'll get you kids, wherever you are."

"See, dad is getting to have fun," Steven comments. Seeing his best friend's initial hesitance, he reaches for Connie's hand and affirms to her, "Hey, we both said 'yes' to this that we're gonna have fun. And let's have fun. What'd you say, Connie?"

Connie then smiles at him as a sign that she trusts on Steven on what will become of their exploits in camp.

The three Crystal Gems then get out of the trailer and carry their bags down.

"Here we go, safe as a thistle," Amethyst utters as she lowers Steven's and Connie's bags, then embraces Steven, "Take care of yourself, Steven."

"I will. Don't worry about it," he assures, "Besides, I have Connie with me."

Amethyst then approaches Connie and pats her back. "Hey, don't abandon Steven. We're counting on you, Connie."

"I won't. Promise," she assures.

"Have you told her about the hazards of wildlife and camping?" Pearl asks."What is there to know about that?" Amethyst wonders.

"Essential, Amethyst." Pearl then approaches Steven and readies to give him an important item. "Steven, I read in the guidelines that any power or magic is prohibited here. So, this should be used for emergency."

With that, Pearl gives Steven a small treasure chest, along with a key.

"Wow. What's this?" Steven asks.

"Like I said, for emergency. Once you sensed for trouble that you think is beyond threatening, you can always call us. Take it to highest point you can see, open it, and it will summon a distress call beacon."

Grateful of this gift, Steven embraces Pearl as an act of gratitude. "Thanks for bringing me here."

"You deserve it Steven," Pearl replies. Afterwards, she proceeds to back to the trailer to unload more of Steven's and Connie's belongings.

Finally, Garnet approaches Steven to bid her goodbye to him. Steven gives her an embrace another act of gratitude.

"Steven, you're off for just a month. Relax. I know you'll have a great time here. I trust on your spirit," Garnet enunciates.

"Are you sure Garnet that you guys can handle protecting Beach City without me?" Steven asks.

"Steven, you are always with us. In spirit, of course," she replies. "It's time for you to create moments here. Though I am not sure what they will be." After hearing that, Steven returns to hugging Garnet. "Besides, we can rely on your father to balance the sanity there."

Both of them then take a glance on Greg Universe, who possesses an egg launcher for some reason and fires it to the other kids. "Never knew this was actually a neat item!" he bellows. But Greg soon realizes that Steven and Garnet are watching him. With that realization, he rushes to him, "Oh, Steven! Sorry about that. Caught up with those kids. Didn't know there was also rock band performing here."

"I'll get the other stuff. You take care of him," Garnet says and leaves Steven to his father.

"Now, finally got you here," Greg utters.

"I know! I can't wait too!" Steven expresses his enthusiasm.

"That's the excitable Steven that I am talking about," Greg reacts, then hugs his son. "Now, you show those other kids what you got!"

"We're really gonna have a total blast here," Steven says.

"I know you would, son." Greg hugs him one last time before Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst, having finished unloading the rest of the stuff, approach him.

"Well, that's the last of them," Amethyst pronounces.

"Take care, Steven," Greg bids goodbye to his son, then hops back to the trailer.

It is time for the three Crystal Gems to say their goodbyes to Steven and Connie. "Well, wishing both of you luck," Amethyst utters.

"You too," Steven replies back. With that, the three Gems embrace the both of them.

"Have fun, you two," Garnet aspires for them both.

"And remember, we are always with you in spirit," Pearl assures caringly.

"I always know that, Pearl," Steven guarantees.

Having exchanged goodbyes, the Gems then board the trailer and leave the camp grounds immediately, not before waving passed them.

As they witness them leave by the tiniest speck, Steven and Connie take a deep sigh and check out their surroundings. Their camp experience has just started.

"Well, here goes nothing Connie," Steven utters.

"Yeah! Can't wait to do whatever is in here…" Connie comments, "What are we gonna do here? Or what does it say of our activities?"

Steven then checks out the brochure/waiver. "It says nothing about what the activities will be. They just said they will be surprises," he implies, "But they said there will be an inflatable water park here. I don't know if that's true but it looks cool."

"Yeah, that kinda helps."

Suddenly, Steven spots familiar faces from Beach City. "Hey, isn't that Lars and Sadie?"

They turn their heads to where Steven sees Lars and Sadie, only to see them off the park bus and unloading their stuff. Lars seems to be digging to his stuff. But in the middle of it, they go arguing.

"Lars, for real, did you pack the sunblock?" Sadie asks.

"I know I packed it in here," Lars affirms.

"Lars, it's almost fifteen minutes, and the bus is waiting to go. Are you sure you didn't pack it?"

"Sadie, why did you even pack asunblock in the first place?"

"It's summer, Lars. Why would you not bring a sunblock?"

"There might be sunblock inside. In the souvenir shop maybe."

"Just keep looking, Lars."

Back at Steven and Connie, Connie asks her concern, "Should we help them?"

Seeing of their problem, Steven decides, "Why not? They're good friends." They then proceed to help them.

* * *

With that out of the way, as more and more characters arrive, the next one to follow up on is Lincoln Loud, who arrive at the campsite drop-off by his entire family. With a mountaineer's backpack strapped onto him, he gets down from the family van and sets foot on the campgrounds.

"Well, here goes one month in the wilderness," Lincoln utters.

His parents eventually get down as well and bid him farewell.

"Aww, my boy's being a man now. With himself to take care of now," Mr. Loud expounds his thoughts.

"Actually, I have Clyde with me. So we'll stick together," Lincoln clarifies.

"Oh, but still, you boys are turning into men, independent to fend off your own living," the Loud patriarch articulates in a dramatic manner.

"Okay honey, that's an exaggeration already," Mrs. Loud says, and then turns to her son, "Just think that you will have a good time. I know it."

"I just find that hard to think right now, since I am still accepting the fact that my sisters are going to their own fun camp without me," Lincoln protests, with pointing out the case that his sisters are also on their way to a summer camp (only all-female).

"I literally understand what you're going through Lincoln, but we can have other moments to bond with you," Lori empathizes.

"Yeah, it's not like this is the only summer in your life," Lynn adds.

"And who knows? Maybe your summer camp will be more fun," Lola comments, "Not unless ours has a beauty pageant."

That definitely helps Lola," Lincoln reacts.

"Well, our camp will only stink if we don't get to roll on mud," Lana says.

"Awww poor Linky, don't worry I got you something that will cheer you up," Leni says as she gets him a green beanie with elf ears. "There, your very own summer beanie."

"But this looks like a Christmas beanie," Lincoln remarks.

"So you don't like it?" Leni asks with a pout.

"No Leni, I like it," Lincoln clarifies as he puts on the beanie that had the girls whimper with an "Aww…"

"That looks cute on you Lincoln," Luan reacts, "At least you're not all by yours-elf. Hehehe. Get it?"

"And besides, there are times we might need you. We'll try to call you," Lucy assures, "I might still need help in camp. There might spoken word sessions. I need assistance to craft my art."

"Will always do, Lucy," Lincoln says.

"And do always consider the facts about the flora and fauna of the Yellowstone environs," Lisa reminds her brother.

"I know Lisa," the Loud brother assures, "Well, here I go again."

Luna then leaps to his front to bid her brother goodbye, "Now that reminds me bro, let's set the right song for your trip." She then takes out her acoustic guitar and strums this song by the British glam rock band Whitesnake, " _An' here I go again on my own,_ _goin' down the only road I've ever known."_

"That really helps Luna," Lincoln reacts, ending with an assured smile.

"Awww…" Luna spouts as she hugs her brother.

"Come on guys!" Lynn persuades her sisters to leap onto Lincoln and hug him as part of their farewell to him. Then they all partake on a sweet sibling embrace. Even baby Lily kisses his cheek. And eventually, the parents join in.

"I am really gonna miss you guys," Lincoln sincerely admits.

"Lincoln, it's fine. We'll literally miss you," Lori confesses as the sisters give their own kisses to Lincoln's forehead. After that bittersweet farewell, the Louds go back to the van and ready to head back on the road.

"Okay sweetie, emergency numbers are on your bag. Every time there is an emergency, you call us okay?" Mrs. Loud gives her final reminders to her son, to which he agrees on. "We'll see you Lincoln, a month from now." She gives one final kiss to her son's cheek before they leave. "We love you Lincoln. Bye!"

"Bye Lincoln!" they all greet and wave their hands to him as the Louds leave the campground premises, with Lincoln giving chase to wave back at them.

"Bye guys!" he hollers, until the point they become distant. Now with him, by himself, in a campground full of strangers, Lincoln looks around the site to witness a wilder party than usual.

Abruptly, his best friend/wingman Clyde McBride pops out from behind him. "Lincoln, there you are!"

"Clyde, it's good to see you buddy," Lincoln utters, then fist pumps his best friend. "Where you came from?"

"Oh, I stayed by the lodge. I came here early, so I scooted around. Not much to see, yet," Clyde shares.

"What did you see?"

"Nahh, there are camp personnel around. They didn't permit to look beyond the restricted areas. So, I hung out with this bird guy named Harvey Beaks. He's kind of good, only a bird."

"Good! I wanna meet him."

But as the two head to the lodge, Lincoln and Clyde are suddenly sprayed with water by facilitators Max Goof and his friend Bobby and PJ. "Welcome to camp!" they greet them with sheer energy.

"Is this how you greet you kids here?" Lincoln asks while soaked.

"Oh buddy, this ain't the first time I get soaked. And this will not be your only one," Clyde responds.

"Come on guys! Let's be on high spirits, or something like that," Max encourages them.

"Yeah, the awesome just got started," PJ follows it up with a lamer encouragement.

"Oh, speaking of which, we must all gather now at the amphitheater for our orientation. Cool?" Bobby persuade the both of them.

"Now, we're cool," Lincoln affirms. Then they reluctantly proceed to their gathering area, not before passing by the lodge."

* * *

Three characters introduced. Here is another guest in the camp who is not ready for a social gathering like this. In flies Chloe Park, who, after two straight grueling semesters in the University of California, was granted a month summer break by her professors.

As for Chloe's participation in summer camp, her parents suggested such activity for their daughter to gauge her social well-being. Though initially reluctant, she accepts their offer, due to being subtly warned of an alternative for the summer – sharing her intelligence as a work-at-home high school tutor.

Gratefully, Chloe's parents allow the Bears to tag along for the ride. As they arrive at the park, Chloe is truly hesitant to set foot on camp.

"I don't know about this. Camps are not my thing," Chloe comments to the Bears.

"Hey, you'll get the hang of it," Grizzly consoles her, "Camp is like…hanging out with us. You got yourself off from reading advanced biology and then hung out with us. It's like that, only without us."

"I don't think that helps."

"It's okay Chloe. We'll try to be with you, social media speaking," Panda assures.

"Ice Bear and his brothers will really miss you," Ice Bear affirms to Chloe lovingly.

Feeling the Bears' care for her (insert obvious joke here), Chloe hugs them three. "What would I do without you guys?"

"You'll still be Chloe. Only by yourself, but more awesome," Grizzly says.

"I think she meant that, rhetorically speaking," Panda corrects his older brother.

"Ice Bear says you will have a fantastic time. He says to believe on it," Ice Bear says.

"Thanks Ice Bear! Thanks guys!" Chloe expresses her utmost gratitude.

After that, Chloe's parents place her belongings (a duffel bag and a stroller) down.

"Now Chloe, you already know the basics of out-of-town excursions," Mrs. Park reminds her daughter.

"Emergency number are at the blue poach with emergency medication and first aid kit. Inhaler's at the pocket of my bag. Got it all, mom," Chloe reassures.

"Just checking, sweetheart." Her mom then gives her a hug and a kiss to the forehead. "Be good, okay?"

"And stay safe Chloe. Have fun without having too much fun," Mr. Park adds.

"Ohh…I'll try," Chloe answers.

Mr. Park then proceeds to embrace his daughter before leaving.

"We'll miss you Chloe," Mrs. Park sincerely consoles to her daughter.

"Yeah Chloe, us too," Grizzly agrees before getting back to the SUV. As the engine starts, Chloe abandons her stuff and gives her final goodbyes to her loved ones.

"Bye guys!" Chloe greets to them, with patting the Bears' paws.

"Bye Chloe!" the Bears greet her back as the car heads away. They then look back at Chloe as becomes distant from their position. This is not the first time that Chloe was going independent. College is still on her belt. But for an event like this, with a group of people she does not normally associate with, this is a first for her, a thing that worries the Bears.

"Man, I'll miss her," Panda reacts.

"Yeah me too," Grizzly agrees, "I mean it was like a minute age, but it felt like a year from now."

"Ice Bear said that three minutes and eight seconds actually passed. But Grizzly is right. It felt like so long," Ice Bear monotonously implies.

"Don't worry, Bears. I know my Chloe. She'll learn to adapt to her environment and to make new friends here. That's why I placed her at camp. She'll be fine. I believe in her," Mrs. Park assures, "Now, who's up for Bibimbap at home?"

"What's that?" Panda asks.

"It's a rice dish. You'll love it," Mrs. Park guarantees.

"Well, as long you say we'll love it, might as well wait to eat it," Grizzly replies.

With that, the Bears bond with the Parks before returning to their forest home.

* * *

Back at where Chloe was left, a radio call announcement is broadcasted throughout the campgrounds with a familiar tone that is straight up from a popular reality TV show in Canada, "Attention all camp participants, please do proceed to the…amphitheater for the official launching of MCP Camp! If not, our camp marshals shall come and hunt you down. *evil laughs* If they will do that. It says in the script. Apologies, I'm contractually obligated to broadcast these words. But for real, camp participants gather now!"

With that announcement, all the camp participants proceed to the amphitheater. Some take it slowly. Others race to get there. And as for Chloe, she is struggling to carry her heavy belongings, only for the duffel bag to land at her back.

Suddenly, a certain camp marshal approaches her and asks, "You need help?" That someone turns out to be Ron Stoppable from Kim Possible.

"No, it's okay," Chloe insists as she gives full force to get up, but she eventually gives up. "Okay, yes."

With that, Ron picks up her duffel bag and places it over his shoulders. "That some certain…weight you placed in your bags."

"I have a lot of essentials," Chloe says, "And I know I can carry them."

"It's okay. I can handle this," Ron assures, "Your name, by the way?"

"Chloe. Chloe Park."

"Ron Stoppable. Might be your team marshal but who knows." He then gives a handshake to Chloe. "So, first time?"

"In the wilderness, nope. But in this setting, I guess so."

"Mmmm…You know, at first impression, I picture you as a meek but willing little smart kid."

"This is really a first to me. I normally would read about the history of camping, but not actually camping."

"A newbie, eyy? I'll tell you what. Let me start of your first-time experience with a bang. Hop on to my shoulders."

"Wait, what are you saying?"

"I said to hop on to my shoulders."

"I mean what for?"

"Come on. I am giving you a great first impression of your first ever camp. Come on. I'll give you a ride to the amphitheater. It's really my job as a camp marshal: to serve."

Of course, as he is a stranger to her, Chloe is hesitant by this suggestion. Nevertheless, she tiptoes to Ron, who already lowers upper body for Chloe to be carried. Slowly but surely, Chloe takes access to the blonde's neck. And Ron gives her a ride on her shoulders. The 10-year-old is initially scared of this but gains his trust as she feels the balance that Ron tries to lift her by his shoulders and to carry her stuff.

"See? Not bad, right?" Ron comments, "Now, off to the assembly." They then head to the amphitheater, along with other characters from shows from Disney Channel, Disney XD, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and other networks.

 _There's more where this came from as this is only the tip of the iceberg for the many adventures of Dipper and his Squad 19 in summer camp._


	4. Chapter 3: Hunger Games

The atmosphere just gets more exciting as campers gather at the amphitheater for the official launching. It could be the excitement, or just the rock band performing "Adventure of a Lifetime" by Coldplay. But still, excitement is in everyone's eyes, except for some people. Well, besides some intruding animal rights activists who are protesting that "Animal Lives Matter", in response to the presence of some bipedal animal participants, like Harvey Beaks, for example.

With their stuff deployed by the baggage counter, Dipper and Mabel head to assembly area, where the swarm of camp hopefuls gather.

"Well, didn't know we're attending a concert," Dipper remarks.

"I know this ain't our first camp," Mabel replies, "I think the last one was after kindergarten."

"Right, and I don't want to remember that time," Dipper adds, "'Cause that was the time that I was laughed at for wearing that lamb onesie."

"It wasn't that embarrassing," his sister argues, "At least it's not that moment when I mistake pee for apple juice. They thought they could get away with that, but nope. At least yours is cute."

"Mabel, there are many words in my personal vocabulary, and cute isn't one of them."

As they proceed to the stoned seats of one of the campsite's recreational sights, the twins spot Grenda and Candy hurtling to them.

"Mabel!" they shout.

"Oh guys!" Mabel utters and braces them with a hug. "I was looking for you guys! Where were you?"

"Oh, we got busy hanging out by the candy bar in the lodge basement," Candy answers.

"We met a lot of guys and girls there. We just can't help it!" Grenda enthusiastically adds.

Candy then notices Dipper behind Mabel. "Oh, hi there Dipper!"

In response, Dipper hesitantly waves back.

"Come on! Let's get our photo opps before the program starts!" Grenda encourages.

"Okay, let's go!" Mabel utters, but looks back at her twin, "Uhmm Dipper, aren't you coming?"

"It's okay. You girls enjoy. I'll save you a seat," Dipper assures.

At his assertion, Mabel smiles back at him, while she is being dragged by Grenda and Candy. "I'll be back soon. Promise Dipper!"

"See you later Dipper!" the two reply as they head out of the assembling crowd.

"Okay…" the young adventurer responds, before reluctantly pushing himself to find a seat for the four of them. He squeezes in to the barrage of aspiring campers from every animated series that feature kids. From Nickelodeon to Discovery Kids, they are everywhere in the assembly area.

Dipper finally locates a seat, nineteen rows before the stage. But he gets positioned to the middle, much to his disappointment since middle seats tend to be the worst. Add to the annoyance is the distant view to the stage, where he gets to witness the nearby attendees jamming with the band while squinting his eyes. But he is trying his best to make the most out of the circumstance.

"How we supposed to get fun out of this view anyway?" Dipper complains to himself hopelessly, "Oh well, at least the program is starting. Couldn't get any worse from here."

"You can say that again," the person behind him reacts, revealing it to be Marco Diaz from _Star vs. The Forces of Evil_ , "I don't want to recall what happened a while ago when I screamed, seeing my face in girl's makeup by some kid, while I was sleeping!" Though his story may be less far-fetched, Marco actually screamed from being vandalized with ladies' makeup while he was sleeping on a couch in the camping lodge by none other than Star Butterfly. Star actually teased to a clique of girls she befriended that Marco can scream like a girl. So, she did that as proof.

"Poor old soul," Dipper reacts, "Now, I am starting to appreciate being welcomed to camp by water gun salute."

"Oh, been there too, but I accidentally kicked a guy's hand."

"That's kinda harsh."

"It was defensive a mechanism, I swear!" Marco bolts this out while clutching on Dipper's shirt.

"Alright, okay. You don't have to be defensive about it."

"Oh sorry. Pheww. Oh, where are my manners? Marco Diaz." Marco then reaches out his hand to Dipper for a handshake.

"Dipper. Dipper Pines." Dipper accepts Marco's hand in friendship.

"Wait, Dipper? Like the Big Dipper?"

"Yeah, I have a birthmark that resembles Big Dipper. See?" Dipper then shows the birthmark on his forehead.

"Woah, that's amazing. Kinda reminds me of that boy wizard with that kind of patch on his forehead."

"Oh, you mean the boy who lived?"

"Ahh yes. I think that was him."

"Nahh, he lately played an undead. I mean an actual corpse who was used by another guy for…survival."

"That's…kinda messed up once you think about it."

"I know."

Just in the middle of their conversation, the rock band starts to perform "The Final Countdown" by Europe as an indicator that the camp launch is about to start. At that signal, the campers direct their attention onstage.

Steven, Connie, Lars and Sadie notice the roaring crowd below.

"Come on guys! It's about to start!" Steven expresses his excitement, right before dragging Connie to the crowd, for Lars and Sadie to follow.

"Wait Steven!" Lars says.

"Slow down! Wait for us!" Sadie follows along.

Simultaneously, Lincoln and Clyde, along with Harvey Beaks whom they just befriended, spot the crowd and a countdown meter being projected on the LED screen onstage.

"I think the program's about to start," Clyde comments.

"Just because they play a song that fits?" Harvey retorts.

"Whatever it is, I sure we're not missing a commotion down there," Lincoln states.

But as the three look down below, someone calls out to Lincoln, "Hey Lincoln!"

Lincoln then turns his head to the person who is calling him, which turns out to be his girlfriend Ronnie Anne Santiago. "Ronnie Anne!" he shrieks.

"Surprised to see me?" Ronnie Anne asks.

"But, what are you doing here? I thought you will be in vacation with your family?" Lincoln confronts her.

"Nahh, we pulled out by the last minute. Bobby was given a graveyard shift as night guard."

"Ohh, well that sucks. But why choose this one?"

"Why not? Besides, I don't want to see my friend lonely when his sisters have to leave him in this camp." She then strokes his face with her fist, to his delight. "Race you down!" She then sprints on her way to the ground.

"Oh, I don't think so!" Lincoln then follows suit.

"Should we follow them down?" Harvey Beaks asks Clyde.

"Bet says that Lincoln will be there first," Clyde replies.

"Let's go!" Harvey utters, then the two follow them.

At the same time, Ron with Chloe on his shoulders arrives at the site.

"The program is about to start," Ron says, "Here's your last stop. It's good to be at service for you, Chloe."

"Well, I never thought I would be taken this way, but thank you," Chloe expresses her gratitude.

"No worries. Just in case if you have a hard time in camp, don't hesitate on approaching us," Ron guarantees, "Just avoid the ones they call PJ and Bobby. They're kinda buffoons."

Suddenly, Kim calls them from behind. "Ron! Hey, aren't you coming down?"

"Oh hey KP!" Ron Stoppable then introduces the shy Korean girl to his love, "Chloe, this is Kim, my girlfriend. And Kim, this is Chloe Park. This is kind of her first camp. And she is shy."

"Oh, isn't that so?" Kim then approaches the timid Chloe, "Hey Chloe!" Chloe then waves back shyly.

"Anyway, I was just taking Chloe here to a vacant seat downhill," Ron explains.

"Just remember, we were assigned backstage during the launching, until we are called," Kim reminds Ron.

"I will."

"Good." Kim then directs her attention to Chloe, "As for you Chloe, first day may tend to upset. But you'll see. You'll definitely have the time of your life in MCP. Believe me, me and Ron stayed her once for a month. And so, here's where it all end up, becoming your marshals. Trust me. You'll have a great time." Kim then pats Chloe's hair and places a cap on her head. She then heads for the stage. "Don't forget Ron."

"I won't," Ron replies. "So, what do you say Chloe?"

"She's sure good," Chloe reacts.

"Oh definitely, tough on the outside, heartfelt in the inside," Ron adds.

"I like her," Chloe replies, "You know what, she's right! I will make the best of this time!"

"That's the spirit! Come on, let's get you the best seat in the house." With that, the two head downhill.

As the heat goes on, the countdown reaches to the 10-second mark, bringing the crowd to count along but still making Dipper and Marco remain adamant.

"5…! 4…! 3…! 2…! 1…!" At the last count, the entire camping crowd goes wild. It is really like a concert gone wild. Though, that realization is not surprising, given the wild party animal crowd and the pre-camp program, which is only a concert opener.

The announcer then declaims, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to MCP Camp! Presenting your host for the program, _Total Drama_ auteur Chris McKlein."

With that, McKlein comes onstage like how reality host contestants have their entrances. The front crowd goes wild while some of the campers behind the audience boo at him. Dipper and Marco just blend in the backside without muttering anything.

"Hello summer campers!" McKlein greets the crowd, as the three parties of campers from earlier arrive in the crowd. "It's me, Chris McKlein, host of the popular reality series _Total Drama_. And contractually obliged to this stint."

"Clearly…" Nigel Uno comments from the crowd.

"Now, welcome to not _Total Drama_. This ain't _Total Drama_ , but I swear your experience will be totally dramatic. If anyone has a problem with that punchline, you may direct them to our censorship department." He then points to the one group of marshals who are dressed like war boys from _Mad Max: Fury Road_. "Now, I know all of you are excited to start your month of summer camp. I am too…excited to see you fight for your very lives." McKlein says this with a subtle evil tone that startles some campers. "But I digress."

"Man, he sure not hiding how he wants to watch carnage," Dipper comments.

"Nahh, that's nothing new to McKlein," Marco shares, "I saw some Total Drama seasons, and boy, he was too excited seeing contestants battle each other like Hunger Games contestants."

"Wait, what?" Dipper replies.

"Before we officially begin camp, I just want to give special greetings to some special visitors, as said by the spiel on my hand. We got some campers from Lakebottom…"

As McKlein gives that special mention, McGee, Gretchen and Squirt of _Camp Lakebottom_ holler from the back to be recognized.

"We also have people from Camp Laz…lo? What's this? A Polish camp?"

Then from within the crowd, Lazlo the spider monkey (from _Camp Lazlo_ ) suspects his camp was announced. "Wait, did I heard what I just heard?"

"And we've got people from Camp Everleaf."

But someone in the crowd rises up to correct McKlein, "Actually it is Camp Everfree. And we all are not actually from Everfree." It turns out to be none other than Twilight Sparkle. (Yes, _MLP_ here. Hurrah)

"Yes, sure. Whatever honey," McKlein replies, "I am just reading what the program says. And oh, we have infamous accident prone magnet, Milo Murphy." The host then introduces Murphy, who is encased in a human zorb ball that resembles more like a hamster ball. "How are we doing there, Murphy? No accidents today, I see?"

"Oh, don't worry Mr. McKlein. I got my gut 100% ready for any trouble necessary," Murphy excitedly guarantees.

"Are you sure you are okay in there Milo?" his friend Zack asks.

"Don't you worry. I have myself secured in a state-of-the-art fiberglass enclosure that can repel any bad luck to within. What can possibly go wrong?" Just as Milo assures, he suddenly trips, which causes the ball to roll away from the crowd. Luckily, Milo gets out of the ball through a tap door. But the zorb ball keeps bouncing till it hits a trampoline that hits a passing seaplane, which causes it to travel back on air and attract electromagnetic signals to make a cumulonimbus cloud. And all get to witness this with sheer awe.

But the _Total Drama_ host returns to his enthused mode, "O…kay…back on track. Just to keep things tight, we have guidelines for the campgrounds. But if you want the novel explanation of the guidelines, you will soon have them. But for now, three important rules. One, nobody leaves camp for the entire month."

Hearing this amendment causes commotion from some of the campers.

"Kids, you signed the waiver. And it indicates that you agreed to stay in the campgrounds for a month. So we expect every living creature not to escape the camp unattended." McKlein then gives recognition to the marshals who are standing by on the right side of the stage. "We have marshals around, and they'll be watching over you. But let's not call them one-by-one onstage, just to keep the fun going."

In effect, the marshals are dismayed since they are expected to be called onstage to the rest of the campers. But to keep track, the marshals include Danny, Tucker and Sam from _Danny Phantom_ , Candace, Stacy and Jeremy from _Phineas and Ferb_ , Max, Bobby and PJ from _A Goofy Movie_ , Kim, Ron and Monique in _Kim Possible_ , Ben, Gwen and Kevin from _Ben 10_ , Frankie from _Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends_ and the original _Teen Titans_.

Continuing with McKlein's hosting, "Okay, Rule #2, no using of science or magic or any superpowers."

Of course, the kids affected end up groaning.

"How would that be possible?!" Jimmy Neutron complains.

"That's preposterous," Dexter follows along, "Without science, I would not be able to function as an intellectual, living breathing creature."

"Can you remind us why we're in this stinking camp again?" Buttercup confronts Blossom and Bubbles.

"Excuse me!" Star Butterfly raises her hand and shares her concern, "But I am royalty, so I am exempted from using magical powers, right?"

"After you released the evil birthday clown?" McKlein replies, "I don't think so." This just makes Star all the more upset. "Again, we all want to keep everyone in the same page. So, everybody here is normal. Anyone who breaks Rule #2 is liable for exile in Yellowstone Caldera's magma chamber."

As usual, hearing the consequence for such regulation startles everyone.

"Did we end up in the right camp?" Finn the Human asks, "I mean I could chill without my sword. But I cannot leave it behind."

"I don't know," Jake the Dog, morphed as a lounge chair, replies, "Just don't tell them that I was a chair."

"Okay, hope is all settled because in about a few minutes, we shall officially start camp," McKlein reminds the campers with a grin. "And lastly #3, the lodge is now off limits except when activities are taking place there." As usual, everyone is shocked. "I know. I know. You left all your bags there. That's why after this, I am allotting five minutes to retrieve your stuff in there. Hope it's fair."

"I really don't like the look of that guy," Dipper comments the obvious.

"You think?" Marco reacts.

Then, McKlein explains the first activity, "Now, for the entire month, we separate all of you to twenty groups. 2. 0. Now, you must be wondering, what is my group? Or where do I belong? It's simple. And this is the first game of MCP Camp! There are backpacks scattered around the campsite with your names on it. Your essential needs for the month are there. And also the team you are assigned on.

Find your own bags. It may take effort to search for them from top to bottom. And for that, we're not giving any time limit for this.

The catch is this. After searching your own bags, you must find your teammates. You guys find your other teammates and search for your team flag, which is also scattered within the site.

And here's the other big catch. You get to pick the cabin of your choice. We have five luxurious units with ten bedrooms and own bathrooms. Also, own Jacuzzi, playroom and food accommodation. And for the first place, you get to possess the title as 'leaders of the camp.' I'll tell you later what the means, but it means real mint."

Of course, hearing that is music to the campers' ears. Well, not for all.

"We have fourteen economy units, a cabin with five bedrooms and two bathrooms, and with sufficient food supply and one boardgame."

Some are relieved that there is such a convenient option.

"But for the sore loser, the last placer, you get to keep the hut with only one room and one bathroom and possibly a colony of ants."

Obviously, this disgusts the campers.

"Okay, now we are really talking. So, who's ready for the challenge?!" McKlein asks, with the crowd roaring in excitement. Now the heat is on.

The aggression builds to every camper, just as Dipper and Marco observe.

"Well, nice knowing you," Marco utters to Dipper as they rise from their seats, along with others.

"We're still acquaintances, right?" Dipper asks.

"Yeah, hope so," Marco replies.

"Okay, our marshals are now scattered. At the signal of a gunshot, all of you are free to go. Good luck to you all. And may the odds be ever in your favor," McKlein sarcastically implies.

With that, each camper readies themselves to retrieve for their bags. Everyone is determined. Some are competitive. Some are just passive but aggressive. And others like Dipper lean their concern of other stuff. And for the 13-year-old, it is his sister who has not arrived yet.

McKlein then bellows, "Okay, at my signal, 10! 9! 8! 7! 6!..."

The crowd of campers then follow along, "5!...4!...3!...2!..." And at the gunshot sginal from Chris McKlein, the campers largely leave the amphitheater like stampeding wildebeests in the Serengeti and disperse throughout the campgrounds like, as Marco puts it, _Hunger Games_ contestants, to the beat of "Are You Ready for This" by Jock Jams from the _Space Jam_ soundtrack.

And now, the camp is on!


	5. Chapter 4: Catching Fire

At the shot of a gun, the campers flee like crazy.

But Dipper does otherwise. "Mabel? Mabel! Mabel, wherever you are?" he calls his sisters out from the horde of campers stampeding to the top. As he crosses the human stampede, Mabel suddenly pulls him from behind and drags her brother to a keep underneath a tree where she, Candy and Grenda evacuated after seeing the campers flood to their direction.

"Glad we found ya," Mabel utters in relief.

"Mabel!" Dipper belches as he embraces his twin sister. "Where were you? I saved you guys some seats."

"We got bored from the program," Grenda answers.

"So we went back to the lodge for ice cream there," Candy adds.

"But the manager kicked us out, since 'it's part of the program'," Mabel stresses, "So we saw everyone run like mad. What happened back there?"

"A game they said. And the host is a sadist," Dipper replies morosely.

"A game?" Mabel asks.

"Yeah, scavenger hunt for our personal bags around the site," Dipper answers, "And that reminds me, we have to get our bags because they'll close the lodge from us!"

"For real?"

"Uh-uh. We need to leave now and stick together! And fast! Or else, one of you will have to stay in the stinking cabin, with your 'losing' team."

"Sheesh, how harsh that is," Grenda reacts.

"I know right. But we have to leave now. Come on girls!" And with that, Dipper, Mabel, Grenda and Candy gear up to charge and head to the lodge via the fire exit door.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the lodge, the campers storm the poor country lodge to claim their bags. Some retrieve their belongings in the basement lounge. Others raid the baggage counter. And the rest search for the bags, unevenly scattered around the lodge premises. Collectively, they carry their bags like relief goods by lifting them up in the air and storm out of the venue to find their official camp bags.

It is carnage inside. It is like lining up for a football game or a boy band concert, with all the screaming, pushing, clawing each other's faces and all.

Steven, Connie, Lars and Sadie are one of the first people to claim their bags and move to the next challenge.

"Glad moving past those losers is a walk in the park for us," Sadie remarks.

"Who would know? Maybe this one will be too," Lars responds.

Ironically, they are able to get a glance in the camp, which is myriads wide. Counting the area surrounding the lake, the site is almost endless to spare time to locate possible sightings of the campers' official bags.

"Well, this is a job for a Gem," Steven utters as he prepares to summon his powers.

But Connie stops him at the last minute. "Steven, remember what the host says."

"Oh yeah, no powers. But how can we take advantage of it on a challenge like this?" Steven reacts.

"Well, perhaps if we search the whole nine yards. Like searching a needle in a haystack," Connie suggests.

"I ain't searching for a whole day," Lars remarks.

"Come on. Let's go!" Sadie convinces them, making them start the search for their bags.

* * *

Meanwhile, the crowd starts to drop in number as the five-minute count ends. Luckily everybody is able to get their belongings from the lodge in time, except for unfortunate rich boy Eddie Lawrence III from _Class of 3000_ , who is pleading to the marshals to get his stuff.

"Please! You gotta let me in! My precious stuff is still in there!" Eddie pleads with fake tears.

"No can't do, to get your wazoo," Pete Jr., who is guarding the locked front door of the lodge with Danny Fenton, replies.

"Please! I'm begging you!"

"Look, we gave you five minutes to get your stuff. That's the only chance you get. So sorry about that," Danny Fenton explains.

"Okay…" But Eddie fixes up himself instantly and dials his phone, "Yo Rodrigo! Need the duplicate of my precious stuff, pronto. Parachute them here."

"What rich pompous," Danny remarks.

"Well, there's more of them," PJ adds.

* * *

But back to the campers, their quest to search for their bags is on. Some bags are hidden on the trees. Some are concealed in the bushes. Some are scattered on the lakeshore. And the rest are just scattered randomly on the site. It takes a keen search and quick wits to spot their bag in this rewards-deemed scavenger hunt.

Lucky for some campers, a bunch of backpacks are laid on one pile where the official bonfire is located. Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne and Harvey Beaks carefully tip toe their way onto the pile and grab possible traces of their official bag.

"So, you have friends with you?" Clyde asks Harvey.

"You mean Fee and Foo?" Harvey replies, "Well, they're busy running around, I suppose. They love playing. It's in their blood."

"Find anything?" Lincoln asks Ronnie Anne.

"Nope, just one who's named Darwin Watterson? Whoever that is…" Ronnie Anne confirms.

"How about in your area Lincoln?" Clyde wonders.

Lincoln then digs through each bag he grabs and checks their names. "Let's see. We have Penn Zero – cool name. We have Adam Lyon, Manny Rivera, Johnny Test, Pinkie Pie?"

Then the excitable girl herself, Pinkie Pie, calls out to Lincoln, having heard of her name. "It's me. That's me! That's me! That's me! Throw my bag to me!"

"Uhmm are you sure?" Lincoln replies to the avid pink fanatic.

"Come on! I'll catch it safely. Promise!" Pinkie Pie assures. "Come on! Just throw it to me!"

"Okay…" With a little hesitance, Lincoln firmly aims at Pinkie Pie's direction and throws the bag like a baseball. At that kind of force, the bag suddenly hits on Pinkie Pie's face, due to her enthusiastic jumping. Her friends Twilight Sparkle and Applejack rush to her aid.

"Pinkie Pie, are you okay?" Twilight asks her.

"Eeeeyyyyyy…guyyyysss…wanna bag it up?" Pinkie Pie woozily gives them a punchline, after being knocked out by a bag.

Twilight Sparkle and Applejack then turn their heads on Lincoln and give him a deadly glare.

"Uhhhh…sorry guys!" Lincoln shrieks, then rushes out of their sight to run from guilt. Ronnie Anne, Clyde and Harvey are left stunned at what happened.

"We'll catch that cretin later on," Applejack utters.

"Whhyyy aren't you guys cretin along..?" Pinkie Pie woozily spouts.

"Crazier Pinkie Pie," Twilight Sparkle reacts before they carry their friend away from the premises, with Applejack carrying Pinkie Pie's bag.

* * *

While that is going on, Chloe Park finds herself crawling and dragging her bag, tied to her feet. She thinks of it as an easier to transport her belongings.

She tries to reach the pile of bags earlier, which is like an oasis for some. However, Dipper happens to pass by her directions and trips over the rope connecting to Chloe's bag, making them collide to each other.

"Hey! Watch it!" Dipper scolds.

But the 10-year-old Korean-American replies queasily, "Oh sorry. Sorry! I didn't mean it. I just thought that tying my bag to my leg would be a convenient way to my stuff from one point to another. I'm sorry!" She then ducks her head in guilt.

Seeing her frightened attitude, Dipper calms his feelings down and reaches out to her. "Hey. Hey kind, it's good okay. Sorry I've been this…angry. It's kind of an off moment right now. I should be sorry to you."

Mabel, Candy and Grenda then catch up with Dipper.

"Dipper, you okay?" Mabel asks.

"Yeah…fine," Dipper assures, "Just came across with a friend."

Mabel then notices Chloe, as mentioned by Dipper, and introduces herself, "Oh hey there! I'm Mabel, and this is Candy, Grenda and the guy who tripped is my brother Dipper. You must be?"

"Chloe. Chloe Park," Chloe Park acquaints with Mabel through a handshake.

"So, you here with friends?"

"Nope, it's just me. And my stuff."

"Aww poor thing. You must really hate it being alone and…farsighted."

"You can tag along with us if you want," Candy encourages, "I am farsighted too."

"Really?" Chloe asks.

"Yeah, it would be valuable if we can team up," Dipper says.

"We're on the same quest as you," Mabel adds, "Probably not going to have the same luck as anyone else."

But ironically, Ed from _Ed, Edd & Eddy_ locates his bag from the pile and announces this aloud while hoisting his bag in the air. "I got my bag! I got my bag! I got my bag!"

"Would you calm down you numbskull?! I'm trying to search for my bag here!" Eddy berates him.

"I don't care Eddy! I got my bag! I'm invisible!" Ed keeps screaming, making Eddy more annoyed.

Edd tries to silence them, to no avail. "Guys, we'll you keep it down. We don't want get unwanted attention from anybody."

"Why so serious, Double D?" Ed replies, "I'm invisible!"

"You're not invisible Ed," Edd clarifies to his dimwitted friend and tries to catch him from squawking and running around like a moron.

But back to Mabel…

"Oh well, there can't be anything worse that," Mabel says.

"Mabel, enough with the promises. Trust me, the next one would be something negative," Dipper replies while untying the rope tied to Chloe's leg.

But by the power of serendipity, Grenda has a good news for the twins. "Hey guys, I found our bags! Well, except for Candy's. But still, I found our bags!"

In full excitement, Dipper and Mabel hurriedly claim their bags from Grenda. The latter then sees a laminated plastic label, which designates that bag as part of "#3".

"I think I am Team #3." Grenda then pulls it out and shows it to the rest, "Is the correct? Is this the right team?" She then arbitrarily asks a random camper passerby, who turns out to be Lisa Simpson.

"Wait, you're in Team #3?" Lisa asks.

"Mhhmm."

"Great! I'm Team #3 too." Lisa then proves it by pulling out an identical label. "Finally, after a long hour search, I found a team member!"

"Woohoo!" Grenda then pulls Lisa to an embrace.

Feeling the tightness of the hug, Lisa chokingly says, "Okay, maybe we can tone down the hugs for later."

"Oh okay."

Mabel then checks out her team number. "I'm Team #6, Dipper. How about you?"

But Dipper is stunned at what team he was designated to. He shows the label to Mabel, only for his twin sister to see that Dipper is assigned to a Team #19, making her astonished.

"Well, uhmmm…at least we get to have the summer to seize," Mabel tries to encourage Dipper otherwise but he remains adamant.

"How Mabel, if we are separated?" Dipper retorts.

"But separated to groups doesn't mean separated forever."

However, an arrogant Dipper dismisses her encouragements.

His silence truly says a lot about the uncertainty of their tenure in summer camp. Despite being initially optimistic of spending their summer differently, things take a toll for the unexpectedly upsetting for the Pines twins. Because of this, Mabel embraces Dipper with empathy.

"I am sorry this has to go this way," Mabel utters.

"I've seen worse Mabel," Dipper replies jokily. "That counts the host too. It's just an off moment for me now."

But as Mabel strokes Dipper's brunette locks to comfort him, three girls suddenly approach Mabel.

One of them is Sunset Shimmer, who asks her this: "Did you say you are part of Team #6?"

"Yes?" Mabel confirms.

"Oh good! Great! Hi! I'm Sunset Shimmer! And these are our fellow members."

Then the second girl, a posh type from _Hey Arnold,_ introduces herself, "Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd, please to meet you."

And the third girl, a tough African-American girl, follows suit, "Abigail Lincoln. Or as my friends call me, Numbuh Five. And you is?"

"Mabel. Mabel Pines."

After that introduction, Sunset Shimmer continues, "We are great to encounter another member of ours. And we need to search for the rest. So, shall we go on?"

Mabel interprets this as her team wanting to assemble as soon as possible. Realizing this, she looks back at Dipper, who feels torn from the fact that Mabel has found her team, which means that he would be separated from her at this point. Nevertheless, he turns to her in approval.

"You know what, enjoy," Dipper sways Mabel.

"But what about you?" Mabel replies.

"Let's meet each other, in the mess hall or any free time. And besides, I have Candy and Chloe with me."

Chloe then waves her hand at her, prompting Mabel to do the same.

"I'll have fun. Don't worry."

Feeling Dipper's assurance, she has no other choice but to trust his intuition. From their times back at Gravity Falls, they both have been through a lot of obstacles. So, it should be considered that trust is a true key to stick together. With that hope inside of them, they embrace once again before parting ways.

"See you around Dipper!" Mabel bids her brother goodbye. She also bids her friends farewell, with Grenda walking away with Lisa Simpson and Candy staying behind with Dipper and Chloe.

But before Mabel's team departs, Sunset Shimmer leaves the three with this reminder, "Oh guys, there's a good amount of bags you can find near the cabins. Some teams are forming now. So you better act fast. Also, watch out for the top team, Team #1."

"Who's in Team #1?" Dipper asks.

As if coincidence is in the camp's motto, Team #1 whooshes from behind them and hurtles to a base ground. Gene Belcher from Bob's Burgers just happens to stand where Team #1's proclaimed leader Adrian Agreste from _Miraculous_ will land. Unfortunately, Gene gets buried as Adrian lands on his back.

"Now that's a landing. Thanks for having your back buddy," Adrian says.

But Gene can only mumble in gibberish with his face pressed to the ground.

"Oh sorry about that. Here, let me help you." Adrian then assists him on getting up and wipes of the dirt from his face and body. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think I just crushed my ice cream bar."

"Oh, let me help you with that." Adrian afterwards throws Gene's original bar to the side and pulls out another identical ice cream bar.

"Ohh thanks there, One Direction," Gene expresses his thanks.

"It is Adrian, my brother," Adrian says as he shakes the hand of Gene.

"Well, okay Adrian."

"Well, I must be going." The teen model then calls out for his team, "Team One, to the flags!"

At that battle cry, the team howls. Currently, Team #1 has yet to be complete but the group so far is composed of Agreste, Finn the Human, McGee from _Camp Lakebottom_ , Kevin Reynolds from _Supernoobs_ , Ferb from _Phineas and Ferb_ , Beth Tezuka from _Bravest Warriors_ , Rainbow Dash and Marco, who just walks reluctantly on their direction.

"Yeah, Team #1, woohoo," he grumpily cheers along.

"Hey Marco!" Dipper greets him.

"Hey there dude," Marco brushes him off, "Go whatever team…"

"See, stresses my point," Sunset Shimmer utters.

Then suddenly out of nowhere, someone bellows these words, "But we won't get away with that, Team #1. I deserve the Team #1 title, for my name is Nigel Uno, which in Google English translation means 'one' because we are the only 'one' who can beat blond hair McCoy!"

At his words, Numbuh One signals his team to assemble. Nigel's team, Team #4 (the team composing of characters from earlier animated series), is composed of Zack Saturday, Bloo, Gerald and Phoebe from _Hey Arnold_ , Ami from _Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi_ , Spud from _American Dragon: Jake Long_ , Frida from _El Tigre_ and Timmy Turner.

Nigel then charismatically addresses, "Alright gang, the air of victory is what we now breathe. Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah, that our breaths are awesome!" Spud utters.

"No, dude. It means we are one step ahead to paradise. Here's it guys. One more guy to find. And there's our first step to claiming victory for the best summer ever!"

"You're really exaggerating dude," Gerald stresses, "But he's right. Let's find our prodigal son! Let's charge!" At Gerald's more reliable battle cry, Team #4 hurtles to the rest of the campers in Spartan battle style.

Bloo is even waving their flag up high, bellowing these words: "Bloo lives matter! Bloo lives matter!"

Everybody else witnessing this feat is left stunned.

"Now that's something you don't see every day," Dipper comments, "I mean besides the supernatural stuff."

But Sunset Shimmer encourages her team, "Let's hurry!"

Mabel catches up to them, but not before saying goodbye to Dipper again, "See you Dip!"

This leaves Dipper, Chloe and Candy on the sidelines.

"So, it's just the three of us then?" Dipper enunciates.

"Let's just make this professional. Okay Dipper?" Candy convinces him.

"Why you are being defensive? I am not doing anything to you."

"I just want to brush off my mistake to you." Candy then proceeds off without a word.

Chloe then interrupts, asking about the confrontation between the two, "Is there something I missed?"

Dipper then straightly answers, "You'll learn soon."


	6. Chapter 5: Mocking Jabs

The heat gets intense in the camping grounds. More campers fight to search for their campers, and more teams form in the race to get the first five luxurious cabins in the camping grounds. With clashes on the way, and new feuds are in full fruition, the competition gets heftier.

Host Chris McKlein relays the events with his own live camera while being transported on a tricycle driven by Ben Tennyson, "We're back in MCP Camp. And those of you tuning in our livestream coverage, you may follow us as well in Twitter, as well as Facebook Live. But right now, it's Hunger Games for real here in the camp grounds. Everyone is desperate finding their bags. But which teams will stand out? Let's find out!" He then directs Ben Tennyson to the pit where the flags are located.

"Uhmm Mr. McKlein sir, I'm just here to fetch you from Point A to Point B," Ben stresses.

"Nahhp…upup. We're here to bring entertainment to the campers and the audience. So we're giving them," McKlein insists. "Now go!"

Reluctantly, Ben drives the tricycle towards their rendezvous point.

* * *

Ben Tennyson for a talking head interview:

"I have no offence to Chris McKlein or anything. I just cannot handle his over-egotistical attitude. It might get old. But I think he's being too demanding. I mean I'm just here to save up for summer and have fun with the other kids. Don't want it to be a pain in the neck. But it will soon feel like one."

He then starts to wonder, "Wait, why are we doing interviews? I thought this is just normal summer camp, not _Total Drama_."

But the documentary crew off-screen confirms to him.

"So, wait. Is this like _Total Drama_?"

And just as the crew gives him the answer, Ben is flabbergasted at what he signed up for.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the end of Lincoln and company, they subsequently stumble upon a pile of bags nearby a tree but nearly exposed by the sun's heat.

"Holy moly! We gotta move these bags now!" Clyde persuades the guys. "The heat can deteriorate the organic belongings that might be inside them."

"Clyde, we don't have to. Somebody will just swipe them before you know it," Lincoln says.

"I think we have bigger problems than heat," Ronnie Anne shares before she points the trio to a swarm of ants that are invading the bags.

Because of that, Harvey Beaks persuades them, "We must find our bags now!"

And with that, the group search for possible traces of their bags. It is almost frustrating, given that there may be twenty or fifty in the pile. But a luxurious lodging is at stake; so they get motivated with that.

Fortunately for Ronnie Anne, she locates her bag buried under the pile. "Found mine!"

"Found yours?" Lincoln wonders, "What's your team?"

Ronnie Anne then checks out the tag and confirms, "I am Team #9."

"Team #9? Wow, that must be a lucky team. Get it?" Lincoln comments.

But Ronnie Anne takes that discovery very easy and sarcastically. "Yeah, I wonder what losers I'll be within that team."

Just at that timing, one girl asks her, "Are you from Team #9?"

Ronnie Anne is just shocked to hear someone from her team. She turns back to see Kimiko Tohomiko from _Xiaolin Showdown_ (and _Chronicles_ , but let's forget that happened) behind her, leading her team. "Uhmm yes?" she answers.

"Oh great! We finally found another team member!" Kimiko announces to the team, making them cheer for each other. "Great that we found you. I'm Kimiko and here's Team #9. It's still eight of us, which means one last member to find." She then shakes Ronnie Anne's hand, to which she awkwardly accepts, and introduces the rest of the team.

Then an African-American girl introduces herself to Ronnie Anne. "Libby Folfax. You know me from _Jimmy Neutron_. I'm second-in-command to Kimiko."

"So what do you got for us?" Kimiko asks.

"What do you mean?" Ronnie Anne inquires of.

"You know, your abilities, skills and stuff," Libby clarifies.

"Extreme sports, and more than that," Ronnie Anne answers.

"Oh good. We have Kick here, who's so into extreme sports." Kimiko refers to Kick Buttowski who is displaying pole-wielding abilities. "You know, this is really fate that you got designated to this team. We are a group with geniuses like Mary Test here, sleuths like Fillmore, athletes like Kick and Libby, of course, extremists like Jackie Lynn Thomas, image models like Phil de Ville, and…about him…"

But Libby is able to finish her statement, "Well, Billy has his own 'special' place in this team." Libby is actually referring to Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, who is staring at a ladybug on a grass blade at this moment. "There. Nicest beauty of nature. Fly! Fly, lady lady!"

His teammates Phil and Fillmore just look at him in disbelief.

"Billy, why don't we get to the ladybug later and help us find our last teammate," Fillmore insists.

But Billy ignores them and keeps staring at the insect as it spread its wings. "So cute!"

"Is there one chance to back out?" Phil asks to himself.

"Well, there's room for any quirks," Kimiko comments. "So, shall we Ronnie Anne? We have a lot to go through."

Ronnie Anne then looks back at Lincoln, expecting his permission to let her go with her team.

As expected, Lincoln says, "You go ahead. We have to still search for our bags."

Hearing that, Ronnie Anne smiles and salutes him back. "Smell you later, lame-o!" And with that, Team #9 departs the area (with Phil carrying Billy away) and sets off to find their last remaining member.

Clyde arrives at the last minute, having still no sign of his bag. "What I missed buddy? And where's Ronnie Anne?"

"She gone ahead," Lincoln replies as he stares blankly to the void.

"You can think of her later, man. But now we have to find our bags," Clyde convinces him.

With that, the two resume their search. Minutes go by, and there is still no sign of their bags. They decide to take a rest for a while under the tree.

"It's no use, buddy. We'll never find our bags," Clyde expresses his dismay.

"You're right Clyde. I knew this summer camp would really be a bad idea," Lincoln agrees.

"But you know what, I think it's just the bags the problem. I think things will get better."

"I wish so too."

In sheer coincidence, Harvey has good news for the guys. "Fellas, guess what I found! Come here!"

Lincoln and Clyde rush to Harvey, as he shows them their own bags buried from the pile.

"Ahh! This is awesome!" Clyde utters, "Thanks Harvey!"

"Really Harvey, thank you. We could have not done it without you," Lincoln expresses his gratitude.

"It was nothing, fellas," Harvey delightfully replies.

After that brief celebration, the boys check out the tags for their respective teams.

"Mine says I'm in Team #6," Clyde confirms.

"I'm in Team #7," Harvey follows, "How about yours, Lincoln?"

Lincoln then reads the tag that he is assigned to. "Team #19…Team #19? Nineteen teams? Why would I be in a team like this?"

"Doesn't matter the team Lincoln," Clyde reminds him, "What is important are the memories you will share."

"Thank you Clyde. But how can we find these teams?" Lincoln addresses to them, "There's got to be a reliable source of information to find them."

And just to throw more coincidences out of the ballpark, Chris McKlein broadcasts one announcement through the camp grounds' radio system, "Attention campers, since it is our obligation to help in your search, this is to inform that there have not yet been any teams with complete members. But I can announce the Top 6 team with only one member left to find. And reminder those teams, you may gather in the rendezvous point where the flags are located. Okay?" McKlein then proceeds with announce the top teams: "And your top teams are Team #1, Team #4, Team #7, Team #8, Team #11 and Team #16."

Hearing that announcement, Harvey jumps for joy, "Team #7? That's me. I'm from Team #7! I'm the one they're looking for!"

"That's great, Harvey," Lincoln commends him.

"Yeah buddy, we're proud of you," Clyde shares the same sentiment.

"Well, let's find them!" Lincoln persuades them.

"You mean you'll go with me?" Harvey replies.

"Well, in any case we might find our team as well over there," Lincoln clarifies.

And with that encouragement, Harvey is motivated to get involved in the camp proper. "Okay let's go!" Then the three boys set off to the rendezvous point.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dipper, Chloe and Candy continue to march in desperate search for their bags. Chloe checks the bags that were scattered on their path, but none of which belong to them.

She examines one more bag on their way but immediately finds out that it does not belong to any of them. "That's like the 16th bag. We'll never find our bags from here."

"Maybe if we search the ones near the lake, we might find our bags," Dipper suggests, and then hurries to their direction.

But Chloe stops him, "Wait Dipper, can we take a minute? I think I'm thirsty."

"Oh sorry, Candy." He then pulls out the mineral water in his bag and hands it to Candy. "Here. Help yourself. You don't want to get dehydrated along the way."

Then a thirsty Candy takes a large gulp from the bottle and halfway finishes it. "Oh sorry."

"Keep it. I also have one for Chloe." He then hands another bottle to the young Korean girl.

"Thank you Dipper," she expresses her gratitude.

"Well, you need it. We got a whole day to go," Dipper says. "I wish we could just finish this thing and move to our cabins right now."

Just at that moment, Connie Maheswaran – Steven Universe behind her – passes by them while carrying five bags with them. "Hi there, may I ask which any of you are named Janna?"

"Nope," Dipper answers.

"Jeff?"

"None."

"Gretchen?"

"No, not any of us."

"How about Chloe?"

"Chloe…?" Chloe utters.

"Park. Chloe Park."

"That's me!"

"Oh thank goodness." Connie then hands the bag to Chloe and introduces herself. "I'm Connie. And welcome to the team. At least me only. Most teams are forming. And our team is the only one left behind. That's why I brought the bags of the others to find, so we can gather together."

"You haven't found your teammates yet?" Dipper asks.

"Yeah, not a lucky shot," Connie confirms.

"So, why's he with you?"

"Who? Steven? Oh, he just wants to help me."

"Yeah, poor Connie had to search her group on her own when Lars and Sadie found theirs," Steven explains.

"Well, why are you not with your group?" Dipper asks.

"They were too clingy, well specifically the girl named Star Butterfly," Steven answers.

"Wait, are our bags with you too?" Candy asks.

"What are your names?"

"Candy and Dipper."

Connie then inspects the rest of the bags. "Hmmm…let me see…I don't see your bag here, Candy. But I see a Dipper here."

Upon hearing his name, Dipper is stunned. "Me?"

"Yes! Here's your bag!" Connie then hands over Dipper's camping bag. "You're a part of Team #19 now!"

"Finally? Finally! I got my bag!" Dipper squirms.

"Yeah, but mine?" Candy utters, prompting Dipper to stop cheering.

"I think I might have seen your bag previously," Connie indicates.

"Where?" Candy asks.

"Back at the entrance," Connie mentions, "They just scattered all the bags there."

"And it feels like a riot there," Steven adds.

"Oookay, that sounds dangerous," Dipper comments. "But we won't quit." He then initiates a plan to make sure Candy gets her bag, and he gets to meet with his team. "Here's the catch. I'll help Candy find her bag, while you bring Chloe and find the rest of the team. Then, we meet at this same spot for ten minutes. Got it?"

"What if we weren't able to find the rest?" Connie addresses.

"Then we find them together," Dipper confidently answers.

"Okay, let's do it," Connie agrees. Then the guys part ways to their respective tasks, as the heat gets intense and many team get close to meeting to each other.


	7. Chapter 6: Mocking Jabs Part 2

More teams form, more campers are on the run, and more excitement runs for the first part of MCP's summer camp program.

Chris McKlein relays the events, again, "And so, here we are in the rendezvous point, where the flags stand waiting for their teams to pick them up and to declare victory on who will get five of the most luxurious cabins here in Yellowstone. But I will not spoil the fun for you. Let's roll!"

* * *

On Lincoln's end, he and Harvey Beaks reach the meeting point at the middle part. The rendezvous point consists of the flags in the middle of the field, while the stage where McKlein is stationed is located at the far right of the premises. Both of them search for Harvey's team but no sign of Team #7.

"They're not here," Lincoln utters.

"That can't be. They should be here," Harvey says. "Team #7!"

"Harvey, pipe down."

Suddenly, someone on a soft voice calls to them. "Psst…hey!" Lincoln and Harvey turn around to see Arnold of _Hey Arnold_ and his team hiding in the bushes. "You said you're looking for Team #7?"

"Yes, are you?" Harvey replies.

Arnold then confirms, "Yes, we are. But we got to…"

But Harvey hollers in joy, "Oh boy, I found my team! I found my team!"

"Shhhh! Shhh! Quiet down," Arnold insists.

"Why are you even hiding in the bushes?" Lincoln asks him.

Jake Long then answers for the team, "We have one guy looking for you. He hasn't come back yet. But we're trying to be quiet so as to not mess with the other groups too."

Suddenly, Timmy Turner, who belongs in Team #4, broadcasts, "Hey! Team #7's complete already!"

This alerts the team to take action. "Okay, this is bad news. We gotta run!" Jake Long suggests.

But thankfully, their team scout, who is actually Gene Belcher, catches up to the team on time. "Hey guys I'm here! No sign of the guy. So I chilled by the lemonade stand."

Arnold then drags Gene to the team. "No time for that Gene! We found our guy, now we must go!"

However, they are stopped by Nigel Uno a.k.a. Numbuh One, the leader of Team #4. "Not so fast, runts. We may have TV shows that passed their prime. But we will be victorious in this feat. Sure, the journey may not have started in a smooth way. But we will walk through the hardest paths to gain our victory."

"Man, it is just 'capture our flag'. We don't need a clichéd speech," Gerald slyly reacts.

"Oh well," Nigel cools down. "But Team #4, battle stations!"

Suddenly, Adrien Agreste stops them. "Hold it there! The victory is ours!" This prompts for the members of his team, Team #1, to shout their battle cry, except for Marco Diaz.

"Hoorah…" Marco Diaz despondently goes along.

However, somebody shouts, "We don't think so!" It is actually Marinette Dupain-Cheng with her team, Team #2, behind her. Out of the blue, she notices Adrien. "You?!"

"You?!" Adrien replies.

"What are you doing here?!"

"What are you doing here?!"

"Leading my team."

"Well, I'm leading my team as well. And we'll be securing our place as first."

"I don't think so!"

But somebody suddenly intrudes the party, "Wait just a second!" It turns out to be Raimundo from _Xiaolin Showdown_ , leader of Team #16, an all-male team. "Me and my team have just something to say!"

At that signal, Team #16, consisting of Tommy Pickles, Rudy Tabootie, Sanjay Patel, Hoagie Gilligan Jr. (Numbuh Two), Og from _Mike, Lu & Og_, Edd (or Double D), Mac from _Foster's Home_ , Mikey (from _Bunsen is a Beast_ ) and Doug, ready on their positions and start their cheer: "We have the power! Mighty, mighty power! You have the power! Stinky, stinky power!"

"Numbuh Two! How could you?!" Nigel berates Hoagie.

"Uhmm sorry Numbuh One. I got placed here. So it's not my fault," he replies. "So, stinky, stinky power!"

And to add more to the proceedings, Star Butterfly of Team #8 shows up and interferes, "Stinky power ey? I bet you want to try horseradish power?"

"What did she say?" Raimundo utters.

"Uhmm what is Star doing?" Marco asks to himself.

Star then persuades her own team to pronounce their battle cries. "Team #8! What is your profession?!"

Then her team shouts "Awoo! Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!"

However, the princess of Mewni notices something. "Wait a minute. Where's Steven?!"

* * *

As previously mentioned, Steven stayed away from Star and her team, due to Star's overzealousness and overexcited attitude. So, he bonded with Connie. Unfortunately, their second-in-command, Rarity, spots him and attempts to drag him back to the team.

"Come on Steven! We need you!" Rarity encourages him.

"No! You can't take me!" Steven says while he clings tightly to Connie. Chloe Park just stands stunned.

"Connie, you have to encourage him."

Without any choice, Connie goes along with Rarity's suggestion. "Steven, we'll see each other. Just not now."

"But, I can't stand Star!" he points out.

"Then wait it out. Just understand her, and don't worry about a thing," Connie assures. "We'll see each other. In lunch perhaps."

With that assurance, Steven reluctantly drops his hands from Connie and lets Rarity drag him to the rendezvous grounds. While Steven might get worried, Connie gets equally worried of him and her team.

"Is he really that…attached to you?" Chloe asks.

"Yeah, but he's just scared of his team leader. That's all," Connie says before they continue their search for their missing team members.

* * *

Back on the rendezvous grounds, Rarity finally drags Steven back to the team on time, and they go all out for force.

"Alright team! Here's the moment we've been waiting for!" Star shouts.

However, for one final blow, Milo Murphy arrives in the scene and gives a yodel. "Oh Team #11!" And at his signal, Team #11 emerges from uphill and charges towards the flags, prompting Star's team to do the same.

And at that sight, the other teams take aim.

"Charge with me brothers!" Adrien shouts to Team #1.

Marinette also bolts out and leads a charge from her team.

"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our cabin!" Nigel Uno aspires his team to charge.

"Guys, we are cancelling the apocalypse!" Arnold shouts, prompting his team to charge.

"Tonight, we dine in Yell-owstone!" Raimundo pronounces to his team.

And so there it was, seven teams (1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11 and 16) battle to claim their flags, duke out each other and race towards Chris McKlein to secure victory in the very first activity of a camp, in a scene that reeks of resemblance to that battle scene in _Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy_.

Nevertheless, Chris McKlein is impressed that he broadcasts this in real-time through MCP's livestreaming in social media. "And ladies and gentleman, I give you the 77th Annual Hunger Games. Hahaha!"

However, the facilitators draw mixed reactions; some like Ben and Max Goof find in entertaining; but Kim and Ron find it unsettling. Though, they all agree that this "battle" as gone too far, and that McKlein's evil laugh in the end is terrifying, even by Chris McKlein standards.


	8. Chapter 6: Mocking Jabs Part 2 Part 2

As for Dipper and Candy, they come across the bags located near the lake where Connie claimed she spotted Candy's bag. They go for a hasty search, only to find it nowhere.

"Seen anything?" Dipper asks.

"No sign of my bag, anywhere," Candy laments, almost giving up hope. After moments of finding, there is definitely no sign of Candy's bag. "It's no use, Dipper. M y bag's nowhere."

"Hey, let's not give up, okay? Your bag is just around here. We'll find it," Dipper motivates her. Feeling his support, Candy wipes her watery eyes and continues finding. "It has to be here. Connie said it."

Suddenly, one boy emerges in front of them, carrying Candy's bag. "Is this what you're looking for?" he asks threateningly.

The two spots the nametag, confirming it to be Candy's.

"That's my bag. Give it to me!" Candy insists.

"Nah-ah! Not if you have to go through me first!" he intimidates them again. The boy goes closer to them, revealing it to be stock bully Nelson Muntz. "Now, since we are in the same page of looking for our teams…just kidding! I had my team. But there's just one problem. We're going to lose! Now, I'm not going to be the one to blame. So I say when you're going to get your bag. Haha!"

Dipper then stands up for Candy. "She insists that you give her bag."

"What are you going to do? Make me?!" Nelson replies.

"In fact I will." With that, Dipper is about to smack on Nelson's face, but the latter grabs Dipper's hand tightly and twists it hard.

"Dipper!" Candy screams.

"Haha!" At his laugh, Nelson pushes Dipper back to Candy. She then comes to his aid, noticing that Dipper gained an injured hand from Nelson's actions. "Now, are you going to stop me or what?"

However, straight out of nowhere, someone flashes by and kicks Nelson by the face. Another pushes from behind. Another pulses him on the front. And the last one steps him to the ground.

"That's for intimidating these poor kids!" Penny Proud from _The Proud Family_ and leader of Team #17, who steps on Nelson's face, warns him. Her other team members appear after taking down the bully, and each stands with a pose. There is Dee Dee, the second-in-command. There is Jennifer Shope from _Supernoobs_. There is Mike from _Mike, Lu and Og_. There is Tootie and Trixie, Timmy Turner's "friends". Of course, there is Pinkie Pie. There is Madison from _Class of 3000_ , who picks up Candy from being scared. And there is Riley Daring from _The Replacements_ , who assists Dipper up.

"Are you okay dear?" Riley asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," Dipper says.

"Hush it now. Your hand is hurt. We just need to nurse your hand." Riley then has Dipper rest on the side and pulls out her portable first aid kit as she tends Dipper's hand injury. "Feeling fine?"

"Yeah but…"

"Just relax, sweetie. I got this," Riley assures, though with unintentionally touching Dipper's face. "I am a Girl Scout. I can handle this." And just with that cordial gesture, Dipper feels a fondness in him to the girl who is nursing him.

But back on track, Penny picks up Nelson and warns him, "If you harm these two or any of us, we will come for you. You swear you will regret for looking at us down."

"Yes ma'am," Nelson replies cowardly, "Don't worry. I support your movement. Go feminism!" At his last words, he is about to cry but flees in fear and defeat, a defeat against an all-female team.

Penny then moves back to Dipper and Candy. "Are you okay guys?"

"They're cool," Madison confirms.

"Though this guy needs to rest his hand," Riley says, referring to Dipper.

The leader then hands the bag to Candy. "Here you go…uhmm…"

"Candy," Candy continues.

"Oh good, Candy."

As she receives her bag, Candy checks out her team designation, which turns out to be, "Team #17?"

The girls are astounded by this announcement when they finally realize that they had found their "prodigal" team member. Of course, they all cheer at that prospect.

"Welcome to the team Candy!" Dee Dee proclaims and then lifts her up.

"This calls for a celebration!" Pinkie Pie exclaims, making the girls exclaim as well.

"Hold on girls. Celebration later. For now, we have to catch up with the other teams," Penny reminds them.

Tootie then supports on Penny's move when she points to other teams forming. "Team leader's right! We gotta move!"

"Alright, let's go!" At that signal, Team #17 leaves the scenes, not before Candy saying goodbye to Dipper.

"Thank you Dipper…for defending me."

"You know me. I don't want to see you guys in harm, especially Mabel," Dipper replies.

"Well, it's farewell, then."

"No, we still have lunch."

With that assurance, Candy embraces Dipper.

Riley also pays her farewells to Dipper. "Alright dear, you just wait for your hand to heal. I may recommend a moisturizing oil for that." She then suddenly pats him by the hair before going to her team. "You're a brave boy. Keep it up."

As the team flees, Dipper cannot help but smile at what he encountered.

* * *

On the opposite side of that spectrum is the carnage on the rendezvous point. While Teams #1, #2, #4, #7, #8, #11 and #16 come across in the field and duke out each other, other teams join the party.

There is Team #10, whose leader is Randy Cunningham and second-in-command is Bart Simpson.

"The place is like _Mad Max_ , sir," Bart confirms while looking through his binoculars. "Full of sand and blood, but no cars or monster trucks."

"Wait, you're 10 and you watched _Mad Max_?" Randy questions him suspiciously.

"Uhmm…blame it on Homer," Bart slyly retorts.

"Okay, mad howler!" Randy calls the team's howler, who turns out to be Omi from Xiaolin Showdown.

"This day men, people may have forgotten about us. But this day, we fight for them! For China! For Shen Gong Wus! For Hogwarts! For Middle-Earth! For Frodo! For Dumbledore! For Hogwarts! For Narnia…!"

"Okay, we get the picture," Randy interrupts him, "And you're a Chinese monk. And you know those stuff."

"Uhmm…blame it on Kimiko and this magical portal called Netflix."

"Continue."

"…And for Aslan!" And at his battle cry, Team #10 dives down from uphill and joins the carnage.

There is also the aforementioned Team #3, consisting of Twilight Sparkle as the team leader and Bubbles as the second-in-command.

"That's not a good sight," Twilight Sparkle comments.

"I agree. I thought camp was supposed to be fun, not messy," Bubble replies.

"Uhmm they can be messy," Vince La Salle from Recess emphasizes.

"So, anyone has a full-proof plan?" Lisa asks the guys.

Then Dexter proposes, "Well, I happen to brought with me a petrification device where I can freeze the campers, and we can get our flag!"

But when he shouted that fact, camp facilitators Brad Carbuckle and Sheldon Lee in tuxes and shades confront Dexter.

"We heard that you have a freezing device in possession," Brad says. "May we have it please? Or we will escort you to exile in the tar pits."

"I thought it's the magma chamber?" Todd Daring asks.

"No further questions. Now!"

Without any choice, Dexter gives Bard his time ray gun, and Brad hands the gun to Sheldon for safekeeping before they leave.

"Oooh, I always want to try one of these!" Sheldon happily utters.

Back to the team, Vince addresses to them, "Now what?"

The team's scout, Phineas Flynn, then observes the rendezvous grounds and spots Lincoln Loud emerging out of the carnage while crawling; but he gets pulled back in. Phineas also notices the stage's design and structuring. From there, he sprouts an idea. "Guys, I know what we're going to do today!"

* * *

Generally, Phineas' plan is to have someone crawl to the battlefield and claim the flag. Then, the flag will be tied to a longer stick to be used for the team to cross to the center. Once they do, they will pole vault all the way to the stage with their flag. Needless to say, the results will come out in the end.

But back in the field, more teams (#5, #6, #9, #12, #14, #15 and #18) emerge and join the battle. And Chris McKlein is impressed for obvious reasons. "I can watch this all day," he implies while munching on popcorn.

Lincoln, meanwhile is trying to get himself out of the mess again. He can only evade heavy stomps from the campers and the thick sand that is blocking his vision. It is really crawling through a battlefield. "Man, I have this at home. Can't I have this _Saving Private Ryan_ scenario at camp?!" he groans to himself.

Some campers collapse to the ground for playful reasons, like Olly Timbers from _Welcome to the Wayne_ , who notices Lincoln while fending off a fellow camper. "Oh Lincoln! It's me, Olly! We met in the studio!"

"Olly?" Lincoln replies. "Right, Olly! Yeah, hi!"

"Well, I've gotta go. Had to fight for my team!" And Olly Timbers resumes fighting.

Lincoln continues to find his way out, but suddenly bumps onto Gretchen from Camp Lakebottom.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going!" Gretchen scolds him.

"Sorry, trying to find my team, or my way outta here," Lincoln replies.

"What's your team, anyway?"

"Team #19."

"No way! You're from Team #19?!" She then pounds Lincoln's head in glee. "Kinda crazy because I'm from Team #19!"

"Really? Finally, not alone!"

"Good. Where the others?"

"Actually, I'm on my own."

"What?"

"Yeah, brought my friend here to meet his team. And look where it went."

"Never mind that. We need to find our way out."

"Find our way out? Or look for the others?"

"Most likely, the campers here have teams. But we don't have a team yet. They must be out there."

"Yeah, but how will we get outta here?"

"Leave that to me!" Gretchen stands up from her position and kicks out several campers, opening a way for them to escape. "Let's go!"

Lincoln is just left impressed.

* * *

Back on Dipper's end, he rushes to meet up with Connie and Chloe. But as quickly as he goes, Dipper suddenly bumps into Howard Weinerman.

"Oooh sorry man, are you hurt?" Howard reaches out to Dipper.

"No, I'm cool. I just need to get to my team."

"Woah, your arm's hurt. Sorry about that, if I am responsible for that."

"No, no. It's fine. We just need to avoid bumping into people that much."

Janna from _Star vs. The Forces of Evil_ then interrupts the moment. "I don't think that is possible on an event that requires physical activity."

"Right, and you are…?" Dipper responds.

"Janna." She then shakes Dipper's hand. "And the clumsy one's Howard."

"Hey!" he vents.

Suddenly, Dipper remembers them being the guys that Connie's looking for, meaning they belong in the same team. "Wait, Janna? Howard? We're looking for you, guys. We belong in the same team! Team #19!"

"Really?!" Howard reacts.

"So, where the rest?" Janna asks.

"I'm on my way to meet them," Dipper confirms. "Come on!" With that, the three of them rush to meet with Connie and Chloe.

* * *

Back to Lincoln and Gretchen, they come across a team with eight members and approach them.

"Fellas, are you Team #19?" Lincoln asks.

"We're actually Team #13, partner," Applejack confirms.

"Shoot, that's unlucky," Gretchen remarks. "Thanks anyway."

But as the two flee, two other boys approach the team, with one of them having an Indian accent.

"Hello, are you Team #19?" the Indian boys asks.

"Might I have to repeat myself over and over again?" Applejacks utters. "We're Team #13."

"Team #13! Yes!" the other boy growls.

Lincoln overhears this and calls to the Indian boy, who turns out to be Baljeet. "Hey! We're Team #19!"

"Team #19! I'm coming!" Baljeet races to them, but not before he bids Buford farewell.

"Great we found a fellow member," Lincoln acknowledges.

"Well, me too. But where's the team?" Baljeet addresses.

"Not much. But we hope there is," Gretchen replies.

But as they raise their hopes high, a firework is heard.

"What was that?" Lincoln wonders.

"I don't know. Sounds like _Hunger Games_ ," Gretchen points out.

"I might have over heard the committee. That one firework signals that one team succeeds," Baljeet shares.

Another firework is lit.

"And another…"

Then another is fired.

"Then another…"

"Okay we get it!" Gretchen remarks.

"We gotta move fast!" Lincoln insists. They then move fast to find the others.

* * *

Back at Connie and Chloe, they previously spotted Jeff Randall from _Clarence_ who confirms to belong to their group and persuaded him to tag along with them. They skip quickly in search of Dipper and company.

"Where could Dipper be?" Connie utters.

"Maybe searching like us," Chloe shares. "I'm kind of tired Connie."

"Me too. Need to hang on with the running," Jeff says.

"We can't stop now! What if we lost him?"

Just like that, the entourage bumps into Dipper's entourage.

"Dipper!" Connie gasps.

"Connie!" Dipper then embraces them both, who mistakably squeeze his hand. "Okay, that's good. My hand."

"What happened?" Connie asks in concern.

"Long story." He then introduces Janna and Howard to Connie. "Guys, here is Janna and Howard, team members of Team #19."

Connie then hands over their bags. Shen also introduces Jeff to them.

"Hi there!" Jeff greets.

"Okay, we just need to find the six of us," Dipper declares.

"But fast. There are fifteen fireworks set, meaning fifteen team finished!" Chloe points out.

Suddenly, another firework is sounded.

"Make that sixteen," Howard dictates.

And another firework is lit.

"Seventeen," Janna verifies.

But in a sudden surprise, another one just get fired.

"Eighteen," Jeff dully announce.

But Dipper suddenly bursts, "Are we just gonna stand here or what?! We need to find the team!"

* * *

Back at Lincoln and company, they are far from where they have been before, and still find no traces of their team.

"This is not good! We searched them everywhere," Lincoln utters hysterically.

"Okay, let's not panic," Gretchen says. "Okay, two teams left. So, where would that team be?"

"Probably getting the flag, because you might want to bend the rules, just to win," Baljeet deduces.

"You're right Baljeet! We better get to the rendezvous point!" Lincoln persuades them, making for a run back.

Their feet are rushing. Their sweat are dripping. And their palms are shaking in intensity as they reach the time bomb. And just like that, suddenly, the next and last fireworks go off.

"What?!" The three of them hear the signal and slow down in disappointment.

"That can't be! No other team could be that fast," Lincoln groans.

Abruptly, Chris McKlein broadcasts via loudspeaker radio: "Attention all teams, please gather in the rendezvous point for further announcements, and awarding of the rooms. That includes the losers."

Just hearing that throws more salt in the wound. With that, all members of Team #19 march to the meeting point with dismay on their shoulders.


	9. Chapter 7: The List

Losing for the team is one thing, but losing with the team dispersed and have yet to gather is another. And at that note, Team #19 walks to the rendezvous point, with each member trying to hide themselves from embarrassment. Dipper just swallows every worry he has. Both parties have not converged yet.

However, every team huddles in front of the stage for the awarding of the sleeping quarters. Chris McKlein then steps to the stage for the announcing of the winners.

"Now folks, that was one heck of a challenge, I gotta say. But I know you want your efforts paid off, even for the losers there. So, let's not go any further, and let's announce the winners. In first place, the team who will be staying at the most luxurious cabin of all the luxurious cabins is Team #3!"

As they hear their team announced, Team #3 raises their cheers.

"Now, may one of your representatives just climb up here and claim their prize."

Twilight Sparkle represents for the team; thus, she claims the 1st prize trophy, the key to their cabin and loads of chocolate for them.

"Just a reminder folks, as I call your team, let your team representative climb onstage to claim your prizes."

McKlein then calls Teams #1, #4, #8 and #16 to be granted the rest of the luxury cabins, and has the rest of the teams accept the key to their rooms. But he also makes a special announcement to the losing team in a humiliating way, "Now, I like to call on to the losing team, Team…?"

"19!" Dipper shouts to him from afar.

"Yeah, Team #90. Come up onstage! Or any of you Come on folks, let us give this guys a round of applause, they deserve it." Since Team #19 has no representative, Dipper decides to step up for them. With that, the rest of the campers applaud Dipper as he walks his way to the stage; others are supportive, while some are reluctant, including a worried Mabel.

When Dipper arrives, Chris taps him on the shoulder and acknowledges him to the audience, "Now, I know you guys lost the game and have to stay on the losers' cabin. But it's…okay because you still have your friends with you here. You might stay in the smallest and most inconvenient cabin in the site. But your blood and sweat is your reward."

The facilitators just feel uneasiness to McKlein's misguided encouragements.

"Alright, give it up for…"

"Dipper. Dipper Pines," Dipper confirms.

"Dinner Pipes, everybody!" With McKlein's encouragement, the campers clap for Dipper as McKlein hands the cabin key to the poor embarrassed boy.

"That was not good," Connie comments after witnessing Dipper get embarrassed onstage.

"Pfffttt, I've seen worse," Janna passively reacts.

"Why could you even say that when you see he is embarrassed?" Chloe asks.

"Chill girl, we still have all summer," Janna assures.

Along the way, Lincoln's party finally stumbles upon Connie and company. "You guys from Team #19?" Lincoln asks.

"Painfully, yes," Howard answers.

"Could this day get any worse?" Gretchen groans.

But Connie tries to console them. "Okay, we landed on last place. Fine. Defeat accepted. We all been there. But…we can get our way out of this."

"Right, if that messed-up cabin is true," Jeff utters angrily.

"Well, it's not the end of the world," Connie says.

At that moment, as the other teams depart to their cabins for an all-day Dipper arrives with their key. "Alright guys, let's roll."

"Oh Dipper, we found new company," Connie confirms to him.

Lincoln then introduces himself and the others, "Lincoln Loud. And this is Gretchen and Baljeet."

"Good. Welcome to the team," Dipper replies. "Glad we're complete."

"Actually, we are not," Baljeet mentions, "I counted. We are nine."

"Nine? How could that be?" Afterwards, Dipper counts off the team. Currently, he, Connie, Chloe, Janna, Howard, Jeff, Lincoln, Gretchen and Baljeet are present in the team, meaning only one member has not been found yet. "Oh, nine. Well, let's look for him or her."

Meanwhile, Tulip, the last of the campers who has yet to find her backpack, is still searching for it. It does not help that she is searching from a pile of decoy bags, which were intended to be a challenge for the campers. Having no luck and almost have her finger cut after picking a bag strap, she quits. Thus she mopes.

"Why did I ever came to this stupid camp anyway?"

Thankfully, a ray of light shines upon her when Dipper and his team encounter her. "Uhmm, hello, are you okay there?" he asks.

Tulip then wipes her tears and fixes herself for them. "No, I'm fine. I'm fine. I just…just want my bag."

"You haven't found your team?" Chloe asks.

Tulip sways her head 'no'.

"Well, we are missing a member. So you can tag along with us."

But Tulip turns down the offer. "No, it's okay. I can just search for my bag."

"Well, all teams are complete, except us. And you said you are looking for your team. So, you might belong to our team," Baljeet asserts.

"Besides, we got a bad start. We don't want to see you too get one," Dipper adds.

"Well, okay." With that assurance, Tulip finally gives in.

"Great. We can help you find your bag too," Dipper guarantees as the team walks to their cabin.

 **And as a special treat for the readers, here I formed the list of the teams of this camp, with the leader on bold font:**

 **Team 1**

· **Adrian Agreste - _Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir_**

· Beth Tezuka - _Bravest Warriors_

· Ferb Fletcher - _Phineas & Ferb_

· Finn the Human - _Adventure Time_

· Kevin Reynolds - _Supernoobs_

· Marco Diaz - _Star vs. The Forces of Evil_

· McGee - _Camp Lakebottom_

· Melissa Chase - _Milo Murphy's Law_

· Rainbow Dash – _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_

· Sashi Kobayashi - _Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero_

 **Team 2**

· **Marinette Dupain-Cheng - _Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir_**

· Blossom - _The Powerpuff Girls_

· Chowder - _Chowder_

· Corey - _Grojband_

· Foo - _Harvey Beaks_

· Gumball Watterson - _Amazing World of Gumball_

· Isabelle Garcia-Shapiro - _Phineas & Ferb_

· Jackie Wackerman - _Kick Buttowski_

· Jake the Dog - _Adventure Time_

· Louise Belcher - _Bob's Burgers_

 **Team 3**

· **Twilight Sparkle - _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_**

· Bubbles - _The Powerpuff Girls_

· Dexter - _Dexter's Laboratory_

· Grenda - _Gravity Falls_

· Joey Felt - _Atomic Puppet_

· Lil de Ville - _Rugrats_

· Lisa Simpson - _The Simpsons_

· Phineas Flynn - _Phineas & Ferb_

· Todd Daring - _The Replacements_

· Vince La Salle - _Recess_

 **Team 4**

· **Nigel Uno - _Codename: Kids Next Door_**

· Ami - _Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi_

· Arthur Spudinski - _American Dragon: Jake Long_

· Blooragard Kazoo - _Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends_

· Clam - _Camp Lazlo_

· Frida - _El Tigre_

· Gerald Johansson - _Hey Arnold!_

· Phoebe Hyerdahl - _Hey Arnold!_

· Timmy Turner - _The Fairly Oddparents_

· Zack Saturday - _The Secret Saturdays_

 **Team 5**

· **Cindy Vortex - _Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius_**

· Carl Foutley - _As Told By Ginger_

· Eddy – _Ed, Edd & Eddy_

· Ezekiel Zick - _Monster Allergy_

· Gaz Membrane - _Invader Zim_

· Manny Rivera - _El Tigre_

· Martin Prince - _The Simpsons_

· Sid - _Hey Arnold!_

· Spinelli - _Recess_

· Tamika Jones - _Class of 3000_

 **Team 6**

· **Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd - _Hey Arnold!_**

· Abigail Lincoln - _Codename: Kids Next Door_

· Bessie Higgenbottom - _The Mighty B!_

· Clyde McBride - _The Loud House_

· Elena Potato - _Monster Allergy_

· Johnny Test - _Johnny Test_

· Lars - _Steven Universe_

· Mabel Pines - _Gravity Falls_

· Sheen Estevez - _Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius_

· Sunset Shimmer – _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_

 **Team 7**

· **Arnold Shortman - _Hey Arnold!_**

· Billy Dilley - _Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer_

· Chris Kirkman - _Bravest Warriors_

· Dil Pickles - _Rugrats_

· Gene Belcher - _Bob's Burgers_

· Gus - _Recess_

· Harvey Beaks - _Harvey Beaks_

· Jake Long - _American Dragon: Jake Long_

· Jake Spidermonkey - _My Gym Partner's a Monkey_

· Otto - _Rocket Power_

 **Team 8**

· **Star Butterfly - _Star vs. The Forces of Evil_**

· Adam Lyon - _My Gym Partner's a Monkey_

· Jimmy Neutron - _Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius_

· Lil'D Lohrasses - _Class of 3000_

· Amanda Killman - _Bunsen is a Beast_

· Penny Sanchez - _Chalkzone_

· Rarity – _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_

· Steven Universe - _Steven Universe_

· Webby - _Ducktales_

· Yumi - _Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi_

 **Team 9**

· **Kimiko Tohomiko - _Xiaolin Showdown_**

· Billy - _The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy_

· Cornelius Fillmore - _Fillmore_

· Jackie Lynn Thomas - _Star vs. The Forces of Evil_

· June - _KaBlam!_

· Kick Buttowski - _Kick Buttowski_

· Libby Folfax - _Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius_

· Mary Test - _Johnny Test_

· Phil de Ville - _Rugrats_

· Ronnie Anne Santiago - _The Loud House_

 **Team 10**

· **Randy Cunningham - _Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja_**

· Bart Simpson - _The Simpsons_

· Henry - _KaBlam!_

· Omi - _Xiaolin Showdown_

· Pelswick - _Pelswick_

· PJ Detweiler - _Recess_

· Rikochet - _Mucha Lucha_

· Skeeter - _Doug_

· Todd - _Wayside_

· Tyler Bowman - _Supernoobs_

 **Team 11**

· **Milo Murphy - _Milo Murphy's Law_**

· Ansi Molina - _Welcome to the Wayne_

· Boone Wiseman – _Penn-Zero: Part-Time Hero_

· Chloe Carmichael - _The Fairly Oddparents_

· Chuckie Finster - _Rugrats_

· Clay Bailey - _Xiaolin Showdown_

· Harold Burman - _Hey Arnold!_

· Lazlo - _Camp Lazlo_

· Philly Phil - _Class of 3000_

· Sadie - _Steven Universe_

 **Team 12**

· **Penn Zero - _Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero_**

· Bunsen - _Bunsen is a Beast_

· Darwin Watterson - _Amazing World of Gumball_

· Fee - _Harvey Beaks_

· Kim Lee - _Class of 3000_

· Louie - _Ducktales_

· Nadine - _Hey Arnold!_

· Olly Timbers - _Welcome to the Wayne_

· Panini - _Chowder_

· Zeke - _Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer_

 **Team 13**

· **Applejack – _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_**

· Buford - _Phineas & Ferb_

· Chester McBadbat - _The Fairly Oddparents_

· Dewey - _Ducktales_

· Gretchen - _Recess_

· Hoodsey Bishop - _As Told by Ginger_

· Lu - _Mike, Lu & Og_

· Pauline Bell - _Atomic Puppet_

· Susan Test - _Johnny Test_

· The Flea - _Mucha Lucha_

 **Team 14**

· **Juniper Lee - _Life and Times of Juniper Lee_**

· Buena Girl - _Mucha Lucha_

· Ed - _Ed - Edd & Eddy_

· Eliza Thornberry - _The Wild Thornberries_

· Jimmy Two-Shoes - _Jimmy Two-Shoes_

· Kuki Sanban - _Codename: Kids Next Door_

· Raj - _Camp Lazlo_

· Squid - _Rocket Power_

· Stinky Peterson - _Hey Arnold!_

· Zack Underwood - _Milo Murphy's Law_

 **Team 15**

· **Helga Pataki - _Hey Arnold!_**

· Buttercup - _The Powerpuff Girls_

· Dib Membrane - _Invader Zim_

· Eddie Lawrence III - _Class of 3000_

· Kimi Finster - _Rugrats_

· Mandy - _The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy_

· Mikey - _Recess_

· Nelson Muntz – _The Simpsons_

· Patty Mayonnaise - _Doug_

· Wallabee Beatles - _Codename: Kids Next Door_

 **Team 16**

· **Raimundo Pedrosa - _Xiaolin Showdown_**

· Doug Funnie - _Doug_

· Edd - _Ed, Edd & Eddy_

· Hoagie Gilligan Jr. - _Codename: Kids Next Door_

· Mac - _Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends_

· Mikey - _Bunsen is a Beast_

· Og - _Mike, Lu & Og_

· Rudy Tabootie - _Chalkzone_

· Sanjay Patel - _Sanjay & Craig_

· Tommy Pickles - _Rugrats_

 **Team 17**

· **Penny Proud - _The Proud Family_**

· Candy Chu - _Gravity Falls_

· Dee Dee - _Dexter's Laboratory_

· Jennifer Shope - _Supernoobs_

· Madison Papadopoulos - _Class of 3000_

· Mike – _Mike, Lu & Og_

· Pinkie Pie – _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_

· Riley Daring - _The Replacements_

· Tootie - _The Fairly Oddparents_

· Trixie - _The Fairly Oddparents_

 **Team 18**

· **Alya Cesaire - _Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir_**

· AJ - _The Fairly Oddparents_

· Ben Higgenbottom - _The Mighty B!_

· Carl Wheezer - _Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius_

· Gunther - _Kick Buttowski_

· Ingrid - _Fillmore_

· Kam Lee - _Class of 3000_

· Marsha - _Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer_

· Reggie - _Rocket Power_

· Theodore Roachmont - _Supernoobs_

 **Team 19**

· **Dipper Pines - _Gravity Falls_**

· Baljeet Tjinder - _Phineas & Ferb_

· Chloe Park - _We Bare Bears_

· Connie Maheswaran - _Steven Universe_

· Gretchen - _Camp Lakebottom_

· Howard Wienerman - _Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja_

· Janna - _Star vs. The Forces of Evil_

· Jeff Randall - _Clarence_

· Lincoln Loud - _The Loud House_

· Tulip - _Infinity Train_

 **Team 20**

· **Huey - _Ducktales_**

· Adyson Sweetwater - _Phineas & Ferb_

· Clarence Wendle - _Clarence_

· Eugene - _Hey Arnold!_

· Fluttershy – _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_

· Heidi Weinerman - _Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja_

· Kendall Perkins - _Kick Buttowski_

· Milhouse van Houten - _The Simpsons_

· Saraline Timbers - _Welcome to the Wayne_

· Trixie - _American Dragon: Jake Long_


	10. Chapter 8: Morning Glory

Bushed from the proceedings of the day, add to that of their defeat, Dipper and the rest of Team #19 march to their cabin. As they enter their lodge, it comes to no surprise from them on what they saw. The cabin is filled is draped, trashed and leaky. The bunk beds look fine; but, they are short in number with just four bunk beds and one regular by the rightmost side. In addition, the floors are filled less with dust. Unluckily, the cabin has one bathroom, containing one toilet, one bathtub and shower. And a mini kitchen (with only a sink and an adjacent table) is beside it. The lights also flicker as they enter. Needless to say, the cabin is the definitely the most inconvenient among the cabins. No wonder it was dubbed by McLean as "the losers' cabin".

"Well, this day has got even better," Jeff remarks.

"Alright, let's just move in," Dipper insists. After the team deploys their bags, he huddles them for their next move. "Okay, I know this day…never worked our way."

As a result of that, each one voices out their own displeasure of their first day of camp. But their words overlap that Dipper stops them. "Hold on guys. We all have a bad day. But it's not the end of the world. I mean sure we got a bad cabin. But it's not all that bad."

"Yeah, with dirty floors," Howard complains. And just at that moment, he crashes his feet to the wooden floors. "And broken ones."

"And shaky beds," Lincoln implies as he tests the bed. However, as he shakes the mattress, all of the springs get loose, shooting him to the upper bed and hitting him on the face. "Ouch." Connie helps him get up.

"And blinking lights," Gretchen points to the malfunctioning lights, which suddenly shuts, scaring her. "I think I said too much."

Dipper tries his best to encourage them. "Okay fine, the cabin looks awful. But there's so much more than just…well, at least…I don't know what to say guys."

As the team looks down on their hopes, Connie gets them back on track. "Look, what Dippers wants to sayis that this cabin can never define our summer. So, let's just hope for the better."

"Yeah, thanks Connie." Dipper then takes over for her. "Okay, we still got a whole season worth of fun and redemption. So, how bad can things be?"

Soon after, from a day of one physical activity to a whole day of rest, free time and vacant period, the team rests tight for the night. While Lincoln and Chloe, Jeff and Gretchen, Tulip and Janna, and Baljeet and Connie are consigned to the bunk beds, unluckily Dipper has to sleep with Howard by the last bed. And it is relatively obvious that from Howard's snoring that Dipper cannot sleep for the remainder of the night.

Completely disturbed by the snoring, Dipper buries head with a pillow, to no effect. He then rolls Howard for his face to be buried to the mattress, in order for the snoring to stop. It works for the meantime. But as Dipper drifts to sleep, Howard suddenly moves his arm, hitting Dipper accidentally on the face. The latter tries to move Howard's heavy arm away from him. "Howard!" But as he moves his arm, the poor 13-year-old moves nearer to Howard's face.

And just at that wrong moment, a drool drips towards Dipper's face, scaring him off the cabin and storming to the porch. "AHHHH!" he screams, wanting to wipe the spit off his face. Finally getting rid of that, Dipper lets out his frustrations and punches the nearby porch post. "This camp...AHH!" But he uses his injured right hand, leading him to pain.

Suddenly, overhearing his aggravations is Riley Daring of all people. She approaches Dipper with concern. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Oh, hey, I'm just…" Dipper utters.

Riley then recognizes Dipper's likeness, "Hey, you're the guy I treated a while ago. Your hand?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm…Hey! I'm Dipper. Dipper Pines."

"Riley. So, what you're doing out here?"

"Just, you know, enjoying the stars while screaming at them."

"Screaming at them? For what?"

"Yeah, because they somehow…It's complicated. Just had a rough beginning on a fun day. So I don't where to shout but to them." Riley then chuckles at his excuse. "What? I know it's weird. How about you? Why you're up so late?"

"Oh. Just went looking for Trixie and Tootie. We went ghost hunting. But I lost track of them."

"Oh, you better look for them."

"Yeah I know." But in sheer coincidence, they both hear the voice of Trixie and Tootie from the bushes. "Well, found them. So…"

"Yeah, nice meeting you."

"You too." Before she walks back to her friends, Riley advises this to Dipper. "Hey, I see why you vented. I get that a lot. But you know, it's worth giving everyday a chance to be happy. So, yeah, even though days have been bad, you might as well smile and be optimistic, rather than mopey. So, there you go."

Feeling relived that a friend understands his feelings and supports him, Dipper replies, "I will. Thanks."

And with that, Riley leaves him.

Dipper is left pondering, feeling smitten at the gestures of one Riley Daring. However, he gets interrupted by an awoken Howard. "Dipper, you're up."

"Oh hey. How's the sleep man?" Dipper asks.

"Oh hey. How's the sleep man?" Dipper asks.

"I was just looking for you. I thought I heard a scream."

"Nope it's okay. I heard it too. It was...a cat. I got shocked."

Howard finds his excuse a little bit half-baked. Nevertheless, he accepts it. "Okay. Hey, if you ever hear me snoring, sorry about that, man. I just got tired, so I had to snooze."

"It's fine, Howard. I got that a lot."

"Oh. But seriously dude, I know we had a bad day..."

"I know." Dipper wants to shrug his worries off. "But, we still have summer. And trust me, I had a lot of bad summers. And one of them is seeing _Transformers: Age of Extinction_ , and it happened when gnomes re-attacked Gravity Falls. The movie was a more terrible experience. But hey, how bad can things be?"

* * *

Right away next morning, Dipper and Howard have overslept past the 7:00 AM calltime. Connie tries to wake them both, to no avail. "Dipper! Howard! Wake up! We are being called now!"

When Dipper moves to get a more comfortable position to sleep, Connie has no choice but to soak them with water.

"Connie!" Dipper, soaked, whines.

"Dipper, we're late! We're waiting for you!" Connie vents.

"Oh no." With that quick note, Dipper wakes Howard up, grabs the flag and leads the others to the rendezvous point on a rush. Everybody was also late to wake up. Connie is the only one who got up early. So, it is pretty clear that everyone is at a point of adrenaline rush.

And as they arrive, the rest of the teams notice them.

"Well, well, well, isn't it team losers from the losers' cabin?" McLean chastises them from the stage. "Now you see folks, this is what happens if you don't abide by the rules. Now, Team #19, who's your leader?"

Jeff taps Dipper on the back in response, which the latter does reluctantly with a raise of his hand.

"Yeah, you. You better hold responsibilities of yourself, dude. Or not, if you want." Chris McLean then chuckles evilly, as everyone looks either embarrassed or ashamed of them. Mabel can see from behind the misery that was on her brother's face. Some feel the same way. "Now, I know what you're thinking. 'But camp supposed to be fun'. So, let's put this on a more fun note. First team to arrive every assembly gets a point."

Everyone rejoices at this note. But for the next condition...

"...The last team gets to perform a dance onstage."

Everyone groans.

"So we can make this more fun," McLean declares deviously. "But first, breakfast!"

At that signal, the teams converge to the lodge for breakfast.


	11. Chapter 9: The Breakfast Flub

After that rather awkward assembly, all team converge to the lodge for breakfast. What is on the menu are scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, wheat bread with choice of peanut butter, hazelnut spread, feta cheese and strawberry jam for fillings, hot chocolate and almond milk.

Still, that does not help Dipper from the embarrassment. While some teams and close friends gather on their own tables, he just sits alone at a table near a corner. He still tries to shrug off the pressure given by their status as a team and the earlier humiliation.

Moments go on, and Chloe and Tulip arrive at the table and sit with him.

"What's up?" Tulip asks him.

"Hey, just being me here," Dipper utters.

"Feel you, dude."

"Are you supposed to be with your friends or something?"

"Nope, just me here."

"Right," Dipper reacts awkwardly. "How about you, Chloe?"

"Me? I'm just…just…" Chloe tries to answer but given her situation and the earlier humiliation, she curls her legs and hugs them, out of misfortune.

Seeing this, Dipper approaches and gives her a pat on the shoulder. "Hey, sorry if I ever ruined…"

However, Chloe immediately wipes off her nearly dropping tears and snaps back, "No, it's fine. I mean, it supposed to be a summer vacation, right? It's supposed to be fun. I…tried…" She then goes back to sulking while burying her face on the table.

"Well, couldn't get any better," Dipper remarks as he resumes eating his meal.

All the while, Mabel sees her brother's distress on his face. Being the faithful twin sister, she sits down in front of him on the table. She touches his hand to reach out to him. "Hey Dip, it's been hard. I know. But I know we are going to have fun."

"Mabel, do you call losing at last place, staying at a cabin with a snorer as your bedmate and being embarrassed in front of other people fun?" Dipper grumbles.

"I know it sucks. I know."

"See what I mean. I don't know what to believe now."

"Well, believe in me. Your team. In summer. And just for that moment that we will have the best time of our lives. What do you say?" Mabel then puts her fist forward, expecting Dipper to return it.

Though he looks skeptical at his current prospects, Dipper sees at Mabel with a fabled innocence that she just wants him to believe for a great sibling moment for them and for him. With that, he gains the confidence and pounds Mabel's fist.

"That's the spirit." Mabel then hugs Dipper in response.

"Well, awkward sibling hug it is," he utters.

But as they go through such a tender moment, Marco Diaz unintentionally interrupts it. "Sorry to ruin the moment, but can I sit with you, dude?"

"Uhmm sure," Dipper replies undecidedly. "Why you in such a hurry?"

"Trying to hide from my team," Marco replies.

"Why? Are they expecting you or something?" Mabel addresses.

"Not really. Our leader has been crushing on by girls." Marco is actually referring to Adrien Agreste being surrounded by fan girls who notices him from model shoots. "I just don't want him to gather us."

"Oh," Dipper reacts.

"Also I'm avoiding Star."

"Wait, who's Star?" Mabel asks.

"Star. The leader of Team #8. The blonde one who's so jolly-jolly that she is literally standing on the table." Cue Marco pointing at Star doing food tricks on top of the table, while her team and other campers watch her. "She got so much of her first summer here."

"First summer?" Dipper utters.

"Yeah, it might sound crazy on paper but Star is actually a princess from space."

"Well, I was crowned queen in my imaginary land, so nothing new," Mabel reacts with a weird giggle.

"Okay? So who's she? Your…?"

Dipper then introduces his sister to Marco, "Mabel. My twin sister. She's a little bit cheery."

"Nice to meet your acquaintanceship," Mabel says cheerily as she shakes his hand uncontrollably.

"Okay, Marco…thank you," Marco speechlessly replies, "Glad she's not your…never mind. Sounds so wrong on paper. Scratch that."

"Okay…" Dipper reacts.

"Had enough weird stuff. I already had many at home. I don't want any for this summer," Marco remarks.

"What's on yours?"

Marco then attempts to interpret his world to Dipper and company. "Well, it's pretty complicated. You need to see it to believe."

"I've seen a lot. Not a stranger to anything weird."

"You should see this guy. He's so weird that he squeals like a girl whenever goblins step on his foot," Janna interrupts from nowhere.

"Janna! What are you doing here?!" Marco squirms.

"No duh, Sherlock, you are sitting with my team," Janna stresses.

"Wait, she's with you?" Marco asks Dipper. As Janna joins them, he warns, "Oh, you better watch out for her. She's an all-seeing eye who can take any of your personal information in the blink of an eye."

"And I just…Dipper," Janna implies, as she shows him his wallet.

"Hey, give that back! How were you able to…?"

"You left it on your bed." She then throws the wallet back to him. "You should really hide it 'cause I don't know who'll know about her. Who was she? The…"

Grasping that Janna is about to expose a secret hidden from the wallet, Dipper immediately stops her. "Okay, we had enough of that. Thank you very much."

"Oh. Don't seemed to be that open. Who was she, Dipper?"

"No one needs to know! It's no one. I swear."

Janna then chuckles at this prospect. "Relax, I'm not a gossiper. Well, if you don't want it spread, why don't you all come with me? There's something you might wanna see."

"Nope, not a chance," Marco speaks for Dipper's team, "I'm telling you, she's on to her evil mind trick schemes."

"Okay Marco, will you just chill? Breaking into your locker is one thing."

"But it's a huge one!"

"You said it." Janna then goes back on asking Dipper. "Coming or not? I'll tell you this, this might haul our way out of a losing streak."

Dipper ponders on this since he hasn't secured each of his team member's trust. Willing to give her a chance, he reluctantly joins Janna on going to the place she was talking about. Mabel, Chloe, Tulip and a grudging Marco joins along for the walk.

Janna leads them to a forested part of the camp grounds and directs them to sneak slowly. "Okay, we're almost there. Just follow my lead and make no sound."

"Yeah sure, like you know where you are leading us," Marco reacts.

Janna shushes Marco, as she directs them uphill, where each of them spot a military-style obstacle course being constructed, which includes an inflatable set. "There it is."

"What's down there?" Chloe asks.

"Yeah, and why does it look like where in a military training ground?" Marco wonders.

"Because it looks like one," Janna confirms. "I heard from the guys heading this camp that they will be setting this as one of the main challenges. Don't know when but this is too real."

This is emphasized as the witness some volunteers scatter burning coal on a path. Needless to say, the campers are shocked to see this.

"This is not good. McLean says it'll be fun. I guess this is his way of defining 'fun'," Dipper remarks.

"Well, it could get worse," Mabel utters.

Coincidentally, PJ and Bobby spot the kids spying.

"Hey, you! What are you doing here?!" PJ shouts to them.

"Yeah, we should run," Janna tells them, insinuating for the gang to give chase from the Goof Troop duo. The gang flee back to the forested area, prompting for PJ and Bobby to lose them.

"Hooligans, were where they?" Bobby asks.

"Dang, we should have been quicker," PJ utters.

"Says so, dude."

"You're the one staring at nowhere!"

"Well, I'm not the one on post!"

While the two are distracted on pointing fingers to each other, Dipper, Mabel, Marco, Janna, Tulip and Chloe sneak from the bushes and dodge them.

"That was close," Tulip utters.

"You can say that," Janna replies.

Marco catches up his breath. After relaxing a bit, he suggests to the gang, "Okay, that's enough for one morning. I think we better go back because I want some bacon. And pancakes." With that, the gang walks back to the lodge without being spotted.

However, while crossing a grass path, Dipper notices something from a path to the right, leading to the forest. He hears creaks and crunches from the woods. Not helping are soft tremors fron the trees. Dipper moves in slow paces, intrigued by the tremors. He is no stranger to trembles and noises. But he finds them eerily intriguing that je wishes to know where it came from. The sound goes louder and louder and louder...then suddenly.

Mabel interrupts him, "Dipper! Come on!"

Finally as he snaps back to reality, Dipper goes back to the group.


	12. Chapter 10: Primal Cheer

After a delightful breakfast, the teams take their 1-hour vacant period for any leisure time, before the actual games occurring on 9:00 AM. At the sound of a siren, the campers stop what they are doing, and teams huddle on another rendezvous point, located at the edge of the camping rounds, for the next activity. Team #19 makes it on time.

"Are we complete guys?" Dipper asks.

"I, Connie, Howard, Gretchen, Baljeet, Janna, Lincoln, Jeff and you, Dipper. We're all here," Chloe confirms.

However, Dipper notices something wrong with their number. "Wait, where's Tulip?"

"I'm here!" she confirms as she tries to catch up with the team.

"I gotcha!" Dipper assists her and takes her to the team when Tulip nearly loses her breath from rushing to them. "You okay?"

Tulip nods her head. Gladly, no one acknowledges this since Tulip's delay puts them at last place again, and the activity just goes through as planned. Though this time, instead of McLean, Kim Possible hosts the event.

With her on-the-spot vigor, she starts off the activity, "Hey campers! How are we doing?" The kids cheer sparingly. Kim repeats, "I said kids how are we doing?!" And with her energetic encouragement, the campers go along, and the whole area is filled with enthusiasm. None the least goes to Team #19.

"Can we just relax in our cabins? I feel I might miss the _Game of Thrones_ marathon," Howard utters.

"Uhmm, we don't have a TV or subscription," Jeff reacts.

"I do. It's on my phone, but I left it back," Howard clarifies.

Dipper overhears this and takes against their discussion. "Guys, will you leave that for later? We gotta focus."

"Okay, I know we all got off to a bumper start," Kim implies to audience, "We acknowledge that. But we can make sure that this camp kicks off with some fun."

In the sidelines, Chris McLean is just relaxing in his lounge chair, while the rest of the camp facilitators stand and watch. McLean just snarls at the prospect of Kim hosting. "She will fail. She doesn't even know the definition of fun."

"Why? Do you know what's even the meaning of fun?" Ron Stoppable replies.

"Are you kidding? I hosted shows that are defined fun in the highest definition possible," McLean slyly responds, "I'm not kidding. _Total Drama_ is now in HD."

Ron just slaps his own face of how failingly his juxtaposition went.

"That's not even what he's talking about," PJ comes to his defense.

"Oh, what do you know?" McLean strikes back, "All I care is that Possible will not carry this duty easily."

"Then why do you let her host now?" Bobby asks.

"Because I wanna make her fail. I did that on purpose." Just to show how foolishly smug McLean is, he throws a coconut drink from a coconut drupe to the ground, in favor of coconut water from a tetra pack. "She will fail. Now tell me if she did while I take my hours off."

This never rubs off Ron from feeling nervous about Kim. "Go Kim!" he mutters.

Shift back to Kim, she commences the activity, "Alright, before we go to the actual physical activities, let's boost our team spirits with…your cheers!"

Hearing that, the campers are divided in thoughts; some are excited, while others are blasé.

"Come on guys! What could be more encouraging than a cheer from each and every team? Besides, I heard on the first day, some of the teams have their own cheers."

"That's true because we are still awesome!" Omi exclaims, prompting his team, Team #10, to cheer along.

"Team #8, what's your occupation?!" Star leads her team, to which they reply, "Awoo! Awoo!" Steven can only reply cowardly.

Feeling the excitement, Kim takes advantage of it. "That's the spirit! So, to the rest, are you gonna let these teams win over with their cheers?!"

With that, the campers collectively holler like champions. Much less is from Team #19. Though, Dipper raises his determination on high.

"Good! Now, let's do it!" Kim encourages the team. "You have one hour to think of a cheer! It can be anything, just as long as you stand out."

And at that signal, the groups disperse to come up and rehearse for their own cheering.

* * *

Back in Team #19's end...

"Why in a world do we have to make our own cheer?" Howard wonders.

"Yeah, not everyone is a fan," Tulip adds.

"You don't like cheers?" Howard asks.

"No. I mean I watch some back at my place, only because I was told too," Tulip explains, "I just don't like doing them. Even if you have to force me."

"I don't know about you, but others seem to get a hang of it," Janna points out to the other teams who are enthusiastically preparing for the cheering presentations. "Well, now I see why people love watching _Glee_. And it still sucks."

Dipper then takes the reins of preparing his team. "Okay guys, I know we hit rock bottom, and this is kind of challenging. But this is our chance to recover. Anyone have any ideas?"

With that, Baljeet raises his hand for a suggestion. "Ooh! Ooh! Probably we can do something to brag that we maybe zeros but we will be heroes!"

"Where do you get that? From the Disney channel?" Jeff reacts.

Seeing that his idea may be lame, courtesy of Jeff pointing out to the lameness, Baljeet nervously utters, "Yes. Yes, I did."

"That could do, I mean showing that we still have the guts. But it should be something else," Connie says.

"Something like, 'You think you're the winner? You still haven't entered a bear cave in a blindfold, unlike yours truly'," Gretchen suggests.

"That sounds too extreme," Dipper remarks.

"Nahh, you still haven't seen the last from my camp," Gretchen replies.

"Probably that could work," Lincoln continues, "Maybe we could actually throw down some dares to the other teams. Like any impossible dares. Then end them with 'Burn! From team #19!' What do you think?"

Dipper then goes in favor of Lincoln's suggestion, "Oh yeah? How does it go?"

"Well, let's say we brag, 'You think you won the first challenge? Well, I bet you can't eat sauerkraut with peanut butter in it!' Then we shout 'Burn! From Team #19!'"

"That kind of sounds good, but we need to have some kind of rhythm to make it work," Connie suggests.

"Yeah, it could be like _Hamilton_ , with the rap battles, rhyming and stuff," Howard says.

"But other teams are doing Hamilton. I heard them planning something like that," Jeff implies.

"We'll still push for this. But we have to be confident and strong that we can beat the other teams!" Dipper encourages them.

And just as the team plans, Chloe steps behind. As she does, the young Korean-American girl hears some murmurs coming from the woods. She walks towards to that direction, wanting the voices to be audible. Pace by pace, they go louder. The words start to become clear. "Re sol c'emoc," they go. "Re sol c'emoc," they go. "Re sol c'emoc," they go.

Chloe leaves behind her senses as she becomes spellbound at the voices. They get louder and louder and louder. She finds herself pushing through the bushes until…Connie taps her from behind.

And with that, Chloe snaps back to reality, and the voices depart, vanished into the thin air.

"Chloe, where do you think you're going?" Connie questions her.

Unable to explain what happened, the younger girl stammers, "I…I…I…I don't…I was…observing these bushes. What is this kind of variant? Mmm…it's fern." She then smiles to hide her excuse.

"Chloe, we're about to practice. And we need each of everyone's support. Especially from you, please?"

"Right. I'm sorry Connie. I lost my focus."

"Don't worry. Come on. We're rehearsing for our cheer."

As Connie takes her back to the team, Chloe looks back at the woods, trying to figure out what happened, where are the voices coming from and why does she feels senseless upon hearing those voices. Needless to say, she is concerned.

However, never looking towards behind, commotion starts to tremble from the bushes. Then, it sounds a silent growl, preparing its terror.


	13. Chapter 11: Sum of All Cheers

After an hour of practice, the teams gather back to the rendezvous grounds, where Kim Possible kicks off the competition. "Alright campers, are you ready?!"

At that swoop, the campers shout in excitement. The opposite goes to Team #19, whose nerves get the best of them.

"Alright, we can do this, guys. Right?" Dipper convinces his team, but they are passive.

"We'll do fine. I know it," Connie replies for them.

Back to Kim, "Okay, let's start the occasion with the official lineup. Let's start off from Team #1 until Team #20. Are you ready, guys?!"

In response, the campers again shout in excitement.

Kim then announces, "Good. I think we're all ready. Alright, to kick things off, Team #1!"

At her signal, Team #1 climbs up the stage and takes their position. At the front comes Ferb in a seemingly goofy outfit that only Justin Bieber would wear. Truly enough, he kicks off his team's cheer, a parody of his song "Despacito": "I know you have all the right intentions / But I have to fail actually mention / That we are the team of special mentions / I know we all want to have fun / But there can be only one / Team to win the entire run…"

At that signal, Marco is supposed to segway from Ferb's verse, but as usual, he is reluctant, which prompts him to stay silent for a moment. Adrien tries to persuade him. Nevertheless, Marco gives in. "Numero Uno…" And with that, their cheer continues with Adrien doing Daddy Yankees verses and Rainbow Dash bragging Luis Fonsi lines. Marco just only has to say, "Numero Uno…" And though that gave a monotone of a performance, the campers cheer of Adrien's rare goofiness, to which the girls rave over.

Needless to say, Marinette is not happy.

Speaking of which, after Team #1's cheer, Marinette's Team #2 takes their turn with a cheer that resembles more like a _Pitch Perfect_ rendition of "We Are The Champions" by Queen, only to jump into Jake the Dog's attempt to sing "Jump Around" by House of Pain, but the verse after "Jump around" is changed "Team #2 will bring you down!". Needless to say, Jake's attempt to rap is unintentionally hilarious. At least, the team is getting positive reception.

Before they finish, Marinette has this to say to their rival Team #1, or directly to Adrien. "Hey! Get ready your smug face because I'll smug it for you!"

Adrien is just speechless to what she said.

The rest of the team's cheers go in the same numerical order before Team #19. Each of the teams has their own gimmick on planning their cheers.

Team #3 perform a song number "Can't Stop the Team #3!", a parody of the Justin Timberlake song "Can't Stop the Feeling!", complete with a dance number and Trolls wigs.

Team #4 takes a stab back on Team #1 for stealing their number, primarily because Numbuh One was insulted for their usage of "Numero Uno", by performing a skit parodying _Game of Thrones_ , where Timmy Turner plays Joffrey and Bloo as Tyrion Lannister stopping him. This is their form of sheer symbolism. Though, no one tends to ask as to how Numbuh One was able to watch a show that is honestly too mature for him. Nevertheless, the team ends the skit with humming the _GoT_ score by Ramin Djawadi.

Team #5 does a very generic cheer, a la "We are Team something something". But Cindy chastises them onstage for being inert. Feeling her vigor, Milhouse van Houten bursts into singing the "spit on my eye" segment of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, to which the group sings along.

Speaking of Queen, Team #6, the team where Mabel and Clyde belong, does another generic cheer using the chords and lyrics of "We Will Rock You" by Queen.

Team #7 performs a skit where Gene Belcher plays a pompous, blonde-wigged leader who goes by the name of "POTUS" or the "Pest of the Uniformed Suckers" and is fond of the "Real News" that camp sucks and Jake Long portrays the other "POTUS" or the "Protector of Team United Seven", who stops the bad "POTUS" from sucking away their victory. The team then ends with a cheer parodying "Rude" by Magic!

Team #8 shows a retread of Star's King Leonidas-inspired proclamations, including "Madness? This is Team #8!", where she also kicks the messenger, played by Adam Lyon, to the hole.

The female-dominated Team #9 performs a send-up to the _Mulan_ song "Make a Man Out of You", with Kimiko doing a phoned-in singing performance (though it is more sing-talk) and pushing a complacent Billy and Phil.

Team #10 goes full Internet meme by doing a parody of those lame rap battles with the "ooooooohhh" meme, featuring Omi doing the lame raps and the rest of the boys hooting. Bart Simpsons then throws insults to the other teams. Because of that, they are encouraged to get off the stage shortly.

Next, it is Team #11 doing the overused cheer borrowing the "London Bridge" nursery rhyme, "All the things are falling down / Falling down / Falling down / All things are falling down / We are the winners". But Milo gives them a reason, telling that they have "Eleven" in their side. With that, Chloe Carmichael appears posing as Eleven from Stranger Things.

Needless to say, some of the campers mock that.

"You call that Eleven! I call that El-Odd!" Milhouse mocks her, which causes Chloe do a mean stare to the poor kid. Gradually terrified at the serious look at her face, Milhouse quits. "Sorry."

With that, Team #11 has their victory.

Team #12 goes for a more generic cheer, using the tune of "Sorry" by Justin Bieber, but it goes awry when Panini is insulting Bunsen and Fee for not taking this seriously.

After that rumble onstage, Team #13 performs a medley of "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, to which they replace "'Cause I'm happy" with "We're Team #13".

Team #14 settles with the safer "Go! Team #14! Go, go Team 14! Go!" But Numbuh Three has a more fun attitude when throwing random flower petals onstage.

Team #15 performs another skit parodying _Beauty and the Beast_ mashed up with _The Fate of the Furious_ , where Mandy plays Belle as Wonder Woman, who rejects Gaston (played by Eddie Lawrence III), Logan (played by Manny Rivera) and Spider-Man (played by Ansi Molina) and goes in favor of Vin Diesel as the Beast (played by Numbuh One), who convinced her to join their family, or else the villain from _Get Out_ (played by Helga) will control her. The Vin Diesel family is clearly symbolizing Team #15.

Next, the all-male Team #16 does a pride yell that reminds of pep rallies in college, repeatedly shouting "We're Team #16! You're not Team #16!" Raimundo then leads the team doing a song number of "Sweet Victory" by David Essex (the song featured in the _SpongeBob_ episode "Band Geeks").

Afterwards, the all-female Team #17 takes a stab back at Team #16 by performing "Who Runs the World?" by Beyonce. But when it becomes full-on feminist, Team #16, led by Penny Proud, chants a send-up of "Lazy Sunday" called "Lazy Campers", with Dee Dee performing for Andy Samberg and Madison as Chris Parnell. Penny throws in jabs that leave the all-male teams speechless.

After that, Team #18 performs next for a cheer to the tune of the _DuckTales_ theme song, prompting Team #19 to wait backstage.

Dipper encourages, "Here is it, guys! We show them who's boss, even when we're not that…boss-like…"

"Well, I say we're so-so," Howard responds.

"Dipper is right, guys," Connie supports Dipper's encouragement. "Let's make this count. Do you want us to remain last place for the rest of summer?"

Hearing that conclusion, the rest collectively agree on Connie's motion.

"Of course, not," Janna slyly replies, "Better second or third to last place than in the losers place."

"Then, what are we waiting for?! We can do this!"

With that encouragement, Team #19 gets motivated.

But seemingly Lincoln has his attention elsewhere. He begins to hear murmurs from the bushes behind him. The curious 11-year-old then takes few paces to perceive the murmurs clearer. Those mutters get louder and louder and louder. Closer and closer and closer he gets, leaving him entranced by the mystery of those whispers, and the voices become clear: "O uys de ene bir teht". The words keep repeating until Lincoln goes closer to the bush.

But before he could check out those voices, Dipper taps him from behind, snapping him back to reality. "Lincoln, what are you doing?!"

"Uhmmm uhmmmm…" Lincoln leaves himself speechless.

"Lincoln, we need each other. That means we need you too," Dipper says to him.

"I'm sorry Dipper. I just feel kind of…airy sometimes," Lincoln dictates.

"Well, airy or not, we need you." Dipper then tries to reach out his arm. However, Dipper's touch suddenly summons a supernatural force that symbiotically connects the both of them. At one glow, they start to perceive the different voices that surround the Yellowstone grounds. And additionally, they hear each other's thoughts.

Just after that, both of them try to snap out from each other's circumstances.

"Are you alright?" Dipper asks Lincoln, who has gone dizzy like him.

"Yeah," Lincoln answers. "What just happened?!"

"I don't know. Some force. Like a similar one back at Gravity Falls."

"Where?"

"Gravity. Falls. We gotta get back."

Suddenly, Connie spots them both. "Guys, we're up next!"

"Sorry Connie, we had stuff to deal with, Dipper says.

"Are you boys okay?"

"Yeah, we are."

"Well, come on. We're up." Connie then reaches out her hand to pick the two up. But when she touches Dipper's arm, she also receives the same supernatural force, symbiotically connecting the two.

"Uhmmm, guys, is something wrong?" Lincoln wonders after seeing his two teammates out of motion. When he touches both of their arms to wake them, Lincoln connects to the two telepathically. From that same way, the three hear those voices in the clearest way possible and become connected spiritually. In one snap, the ritual ends. The three of them find their heads heavy from that spiritual encounter.

"Guys, are you okay?" Connie asks.

"Yeah, but trying to contemplate what just happened!" Lincoln declares.

"Let's speak of this later. The three of us. We still have the cheers," Dipper suggests, to which the two agree. After that, the three head back and prepare the team for their presentation.


	14. Chapter 12: Sentence Stage

Up next to perform their cheer is Team #19. Though after that supernatural encounter, Dipper, Connie and Lincoln are having a hard time recovering from there.

Before they take the stage, Connie persuades the two, "Let's speak of this later, and we must not let anyone know about this, okay?"

Dipper agrees, but Lincoln raises one concern, "So what we have to do?"

"Just…act natural," Connie answers, "We have a lot of teams to beat."

With that conviction, the two go along with their plan.

As the team steps on the stage, other teams are either cheering or mocking the last placers for the camp.

From the crowd, Mabel spots Dipper, and then shows her support. "There's my brother! Look guys! My brother's onstage! Woohoo! Go Dipper!"

Speaking of which, he takes the microphone that was placed in the middle and begins his introduction, "Good day, guys. I know you may know us as the last place team. But last place doesn't mean we're losers. It just means we're still beginning. We're still practicing our feet, stepping on a cold floor and preparing to race to the finish. We are not done yet." After that statement, along with his team, Dipper puts on a pair of shades. "Because you are now about to witness the strength of camp knowledge!"

And with that, Howard kicks off their cheer to the tune of "Straight Outta Compton" by NWA.

 _Straight outta nineteen, crazy host-slash-con named McLean_

 _I know he's cool but he just sounds lame_

 _When we were booed at, we got through that_

 _Shame us off like a true, silly dingbat_

 _You too, Chris, if you mock at us_

 _The campers are gonna have to support and fuss_

 _Off yo butts, that's how we going now_

 _We're sliding in like a cutting-edge snowplow_

 _Camp grounds made me grumble, the soil crumble_

 _Where the bees buzz around and bumble_

 _Going off with a monster kill like that_

 _Drop to the ground, body down, then splat_

Lincoln then continues his lines.

 _So give it up guys_

 _We Team Nineteen going down with some snake eyes_

 _Here's our return to the top, us into_

We have our comeback like Keanu

 _Our meaner attitude is the tool_

 _Don't treat us like a worthless piece of stool_

 _Chris, us and you, toe to toe, not really_

 _You haven't seen the last of us clearly_

 _Not sixteen, seventeen or eighteen_

 _We're entering from awesome smoke screen_

 _That we're down with the capital M-C-P_

 _Guys, don't you mess with me_

 _So, when we walk to the contests, you better duck_

' _Cause our team will burn your luck_

 _As we leave, believe we're showin'_

 _But when we return, guys, we're comin' straight outta Nineteen!_

With Connie, Chloe, Tulip, Gretchen and Janna as backup vocals doing the beatbox tunes, and the boys rapping in the style of N.W.A., Team #19 owns the stage.

Their cheer causes for the whole crowd to go wild. The facilitators go along with fad, leaving Chris McLean upset, presumably from being mocked by the team. "Sheesh, that's not how you do parody. I did parodies!"

But that rant does not persuade for the people around him to stop cheering the team.

"Come on boss. You're being a grouch," Ben reacts.

Just like the latter said, McLean gives an unimpressed expression, which does nothing as the entire camp crowd goes wild for the team. The less can be said for the African-American participants about their thoughts of the team parodying an infamous song from their own. But in hindsight, things are going well for the underperforming team.

 _Team Nineteen! Team Nineteen!_

However, little to their knowledge that an unforeseen presence is lurking within them.

In the middle of the performance, Dipper is about to slide with his knees bent and give high-fives to Janna, Gretchen and Tulip. But just as he is about to hit Chloe's hand, the two of them enter a supernatural happenstance that sends them shaking to the floor. The crowd is startled at this presence. The team stops their performance when they sense the supernatural force surrounding the stage and spot the two shaking.\

"Dipper!" Mabel shouts upon seeing her brother breaking down onstage.

Just like what happened to him previously with Lincoln and Connie, Dipper starts to connect with Chloe telepathically. And on that moment, they share memories and thoughts to each other. That includes the moment when Chloe hears the voices and gets entranced to approach them. He now learns that Chloe had a similar paranormal encounter that seems to be imminent in the Yellowstone grounds.

With the two connecting, Dipper starts to see the supernatural channel that connects them. " _What is this?_ " his spirit wonders, " _Hello! Anyone out here?_ ". In his spiritual form, Dipper notices a breach on the dimension. Curious to know what is going on, he approaches afloat to the breach and touches one part of the hole. But it causes for the entire channel to shake and for Dipper's spirit to get sucked away from where he is. In the process, he becomes knowledgeable of Chloe's backstory.

Their spirits remain synthesized but shaking, when Howard and Gretchen try to wake Dipper and Chloe, respectively.

"Wake up guys! Wake up!" Howard calls out to them.

"They're unconscious. How would they hear you scream?" Janna replies.

"This will do the trick!" Baljeet utters when he pours a caffeine-enhanced energy drink to their faces. Due to the acidic texture of that drink, Dipper wakes up from being unconscious, so does Chloe.

"Dipper, are you okay?!" Connie asks.

"What had you, bro?" Jeff follows up.

Still on a dizzying state, Dipper mumbles, "What happened?"

"You broke down onstage, dude," Howard answers, "Are you fine?!"

Just at that moment of intervention, Mabel rushes from the crowd to catch up with her brother. When she approaches the team, she instantly grabs his face and worryingly asks hi, "Dipper! Dipper! Tell me twin brother, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay!"

What Mabel only gets is Dipper's lifeless self, trying to nod "yes". With that, she hugs her beloved twin brother.

The crowd starts to wonder of the commotion happening onstage. The grownup facilitators rush to the scene and take control of the situation.

"Hey! Guys! Are we fine here?" Kim Possible asks.

As Connie is aiding poor Chloe, she senses her ventilating amid her post-breakdown and requests to the rest, "Guys, give her some air." She then fans the rest of her face for her body to cool down.

Seeing that this is a grave situation, Kim assesses, "Okay, why don't we take them off the stage. Let's handle this somewhere else." This leads for the team, together with Mabel, to carry Dipper and Chloe away from the stage and for the other facilitators to give them way against onlookers and other campers. Kim then requests to Danny, "Danny, can you watch over them? Just ask what happened."

"Okay," he replies. With that, the two part ways.

Meanwhile, Chris McLean proudly gets off his lounge chair and takes the stage to brag about himself again. "I'm sorry about that folks! I hate that this spiteful representation has been presented onstage. See? This is what happens an already desperate group tries desperately seeking for redemp…I mean, attention. That's why most of your cheers are…"

Before he could finish, Kim swipes the microphone from McLean and retakes the situation, after overhearing McLean's egocentric remarks. "The situation is under control, guys…and Mr. McLean. Don't worry. The situation is under control. Team #19 is under control. We will make sure their situation handled has been handled. But why don't we go to the next group, since we don't mind continuing this spiteful representation that proves to be fun for all…" She points this accusation to a stunned Chris McLean. "Do we guys?"

Just with that, majority of the campers scream in cheers.

Meanwhile, back on Team #19, Howard and Jeff place Dipper on a chair behind the stage, with Lincoln and PJ carrying Chloe doing the same thing.

Danny then takes over the whole situation, with the aid of facilitators Max, Bobby and PJ. "You guys, set up a cover. And guard it."

At that note, Max brings out black sheets while Bobby and PJ set up three poles to create an enclosed area for the group. Afterwards, they guard the entire area.

Back on Dipper and Chloe, they pass out from that paranormal encounter. Connie and the team continue to nurse them.

"Here," Danny hands them water bottles and battery-operated fans. "What happened out there?"

"We don't know," Connie answers, "We know we were doing fine."

"But do you think those two had experienced anything like this?" Danny follows it up.

Suddenly, Dipper wakes up from unconsciousness and breathes heavily from recovery. "What happened? What happened?!" he asks hysterically.

"Dipper! Dipper! Take it easy!" Mabel pleads. She then lays her brother's head down to soothe off from the experience he just had. "You'll hurt yourself."

"What happened to you, dude?" Gretchen asks. "You nearly broke down in the middle of our cheer."

"Sorry, it just happened," Dipper utters. Just as then, Connie and Lincoln sympathize with him.

"Okay, can you explain to me what just happened? Because we have to get to the bottom of this," Danny confronts them.

On this matter, Dipper has the opportunity to glance on a nearly suffering Chloe. Striving, he requests for the rest of the team, "Guys, if you just leave us for a moment, except for Connie and Lincoln."

"Uhmm what about her?" Janna asks about Mabel.

"She stays. She's my sister."

At Dipper's request, Baljeet, Howard, Jeff, Janna, Gretchen and Tulip leave the area, but remain suspicious of the happenings from their teammates.

"I knew there was something fishy about our team," Jeff irately vents.

"How would you know that? You're not even a forensics investigator," Janna replies.

"Man, this is so crazy," Howard comments.

"I've seen crazier," Gretchen shares.

"Tell me that isn't as crazier as what happened to our friends," Baljeet nervously replies.

Then Gretchen takes advantage by scaring Baljeet. "Oh, I've seen crazier creatures that devour you a whole! And I befriend one of them." Just like that, Baljeet becomes scared.

While the rest of the team members continue discussing the situation, Tulip isolates herself this time. While it may seem that she had difficulty swallowing sympathy for her teammates, she suddenly notices her right hand starts to glow, embedding a glowing two-digit number that continually shifts. "Why did you appear just now? I thought you're gone when I arrived here," she asks herself. She then observes that the numbers continually shift when she encroaches near to the area of Dipper and company. Just to make sure, Tulip touches the black sheet to show her numbers change faster like a machine. "What's going on?"

Finally, the number stops to "32". "What? 32?! What does this mean?"


	15. Chapter 13: The Place Behind the Pines

Back to the main party, as he tries to control the situation, Danny gets mangled with the case happening to Team #19. "Okay guys, glad we settled. So, there is one thing I have to ask: what happened?"

But the four are unable to answer.

"Okay, look, we all came to this camp to have fun. And…this happened for some reason. And because of that, we weren't able to have fun. So, the best thing we can do is if you tell me what happened."

With a sigh, Lincoln loosely takes the courage to explain their situation to a concerned Danny. But his tone gradually sounds hysterical, "Okay, I don't know if you'll believe us, but something crazy just happened. We had our own ghost encounters. I mean they just called out our names. We got sucked in. So like a hypnotic trance, they caught our attention. We're hooked in. Then, we receive some weird visions of sorts. And when we touch each other, like tap each other, we like share memories and stuff. It just keeps being crazy. I know you'll not believe us, and heck, there are more believable stuff here like two monkeys and an elephant camping with people, but that is exactly what happened."

Just by listening to Lincoln's explanation, Danny is just awestruck of their encounter.

"I know it's not what you think…" Lincoln utters.

"No, no…I'm listening," Danny replies.

"That's a miracle? I mean I'm expecting a 'You guys are crazy' retort," Connie responds

"Nahh, supernatural is my thing. I mean not really like that. But I study them for…school projects. Then we place them in the school paper," Danny apprehensively explains, which Lincoln, Connie and Chloe find trouble buying.

But desperate for a helping hand, Dipper reaches out to him. "I'll take it from here. Look, we're really in trouble. We don't what's happening around us. But like what you said, we need to get to the bottom of this. But you have to believe us!"

"Okay dude, relax," Danny pacifies Dipper. "We just need to investigate the story. So among you, who got called out by these 'ghosts' first?"

Dipper then raises his hand. "I think it was the first breakfast. Mabel was able to snap me out. I think I remember those voices. They sound so relaxing but they're calling me."

"I received the same thing," Connie confirms. "I think I receive those voices during the games. Right at the time when we were gathering the rest of the team. I think you and I split up to search of the others, right Dipper?"

"I remembered I lend you Chloe while I took Candy to her team," Dipper recalls.

"That was it. I think we stumbled upon a pile of bags, and we went searching," Connie relays the happenings.

"You're right!" Chloe agrees, "Then, I suddenly saw that you were staring to the bushes. Then you were walking slowly, as if you were sleepwalking."

Connie is shaken to hear that from Chloe. "Was I…sleepwalking?"

But Chloe continues relaying what she witnessed, "Well, then, I shook you from the arm, and then you woke up, or perhaps snap to reality. Usually, when your senses don't react or recall such phenomena, you will not pick up any significant memory of it. Something like sleepwalking."

"But I somehow remember those voices," Connie confirms.

"Me too," Lincoln raises too.

"I do too, as well," Dipper acknowledges. "They sound like gibberish. I don't understand what they're saying."

From this note, the four feel that their situation has just gone grave. Sympathizing at their condition, Danny takes immediate measures to calm them down. "Okay, I think you guys need to take a rest. Watch the rest perform. Let's discuss this later on."

"Wait, aren't you gonna help us?" Dipper asks.

"You guys deserve rest…and fun, but I know it's not the right time," Danny hesitantly assures.

But this does not rub off the moods that the four are experiencing.

Mabel then senses a despondent but eager Dipper. This is the Dipper she knows, the one who won't just drop off a mystery just because it is unsolvable, or many people give him the unjust resolutions. "Dipper, are you alright?" she asks.

But his hankering expression truly tells a lot.

Nevertheless, the entire group (with the exception of Tulip who is still perplexgoes back to the audience to watch Team #20 do their cheer to the tune and style of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes", where they awkwardly brag how competitive they are. The rest of the crowd sends out more cheers, but Team #19 remains fractured or worried, either from the fail of their cheer or the eerie phenomena that just occurred. Mabel is also the worried one because of her brother.

The day goes on with the rest of the campers given another day of free time and leisure. However, while his teammates are granted to disperse to their friends, Dipper stays behind in the cabin, unhinged by the eerie encounters previously.

Stooping on the porch, he finds an old copy of a _Murder on the Orient Express_ paperback, which happens to be abandoned on a dilapidated bookshelf beside a chair. He sits down, giving him a distant view on the spot of his first supernatural encounter, the bushes where those voices first summoned him. He is so assured that his encounter is nothing like he had ever encountered, from someone who have encountered real-life gnomes, ancestral ghosts and an evil entity that unleashed a ghastly apocalypse. And gaining that feeling once more, the same feeling that made him solve the mysteries of Journal #3, Dipper is determined to set the record straight on the mystery behind those voices.

That night, a few minutes after the 10 o'clock lights-out curfew, Dipper sneaks out of his bed and then carries with him his video camera, a flashlight, a rope, a slingshot, a top, the paperback book earlier and a pair of binoculars. Stealthily, he tiptoes his way out of the cabin premises and creeps behind their shelter. He then looks out towards the bushes where the voices came from. At the view, he opts to investigate the phenomenon by himself. But as he is about to waft towards that direction, someone taps him on the shoulder.

"Dipper!"

Dipper turns to defend himself, only to see Lincoln behind him. "Lincoln, what you doing awake here?"

"I was gonna asked the same thing too, dude. I heard some commotion from the bathroom. So, I checked out where it was coming from, then I saw you here," Lincoln explains.

"Well, go back to sleep," Dipper insists solemnly. "We have a big obstacle race tomorrow."

"Where are you going?" the 11-year-old asks.

"I'm going to find where those voices are coming from."

"Are you crazy? We barely know what those voices even mean. Or anything."

But Dipper refuses to doubt about it. "Look Lincoln, I cannot just deny or even refuse to forget what just happened to us. I am not going to let anyone make us do that. I am going to find out where they come from."

"You don't even have a clue where they come from."

"Oh yes we do." Dipper then points Lincoln to the bushes, on the point where he got entranced by the voices. "There. That's where I am heading. Those voices…"

"Good intuition, but how will you know that they will appear again?"

"One thing to find out." Dipper then steps out from the bushes and walks towards that point. However, Lincoln lags from behind. "Now, I am not asking you to come with me."

"Nah, you don't need to." Then with enough confidence, Lincoln declares to Dipper, "I'm going with you."

"You don't have to. It may be dangerous, even for me."

"That's why I am coming to make sure danger doesn't happen."

Feeling the trust from his confidant, Dipper lets Lincoln decide. "Well, fine. But we have to stay close."

With that, the two sneak to the bushes and slowly make their way out from the cabin area, having traversed through cabins along the way. They eventually make it to the point that is just paces away to the obstacle course are located.

The two stumble upon the bushes, but they sense no supernatural presence from their surroundings.

"I don't feel anything," Lincoln indicates.

But Dipper shushes him. "We just need to be still." Dipper takes cues from the wind and the grass to sense if any being is imminent.

They take the time for the voices to appear. But minutes go by, and the moon shrinks gradually from its initial distance. And Lincoln is losing his patience. "Dipper, it's been a while, but…"

Quickly, Dipper shuts his mouth when he senses a strong gust passing towards them.

"Dipper, it's just the wind!"

Suddenly, they hear thumps coming from a distance. "Hide!" Dipper signals. They quickly cower to the bushes and duck their heads to avoid being discovered. The feet thumps stop, prompting Dipper to sneak who is it. It is Phoebe Heyerdahl.

"Lincoln, check this out," Dipper calls to him.

"What?"

"Isn't she from Team #3?"

"I guess so…?" Lincoln mutters.

"What could she be up to?"

"I don't know…"

Dipper then observes her blank face and her stiff posture. He quickly deduces that Phoebe was drawn to the voices. "Must be the voice. We have to capture this. Can you get my video cam?"

Lincoln then scatters Dipper's stuff to the ground. But thanks to the dark atmosphere, he is having a hard time finding it. "I can't see it."

"Get the flashlight."

"I can't see it as well."

Dipper then takes out his phone to light the way for Lincoln. "Here."

Finally, Lincoln spots the video cam and switches it on. However, as they prepare to record, Phoebe is gone.


	16. Chapter 14: The Tug of War

At the mystery of Phoebe's disappearance, Dipper's interest in the supernatural case happening in Yellowstone continues to grow. "Where did she go?"

The two look around for possible traces, but all they see are conifer trees, bushes and the dark blue-hued night sky. The breeze does not help either.

"I don't see her," Lincoln implies.

They then hear commotion from the bushes, making them feel somebody is right behind those plants. Dipper sneaks slowly but surely to check them out. Out of fear, he covers his eyes with his right hand as he goes closer to bushes. With one grasp, he uncovers it to reveal nothing. "Well, that was a false alarm."

Suddenly, voices appear suddenly in the air, and like a sting of a bee, they attack Lincoln. Their murmurs are like listening to repetitive but haunting voices from an earpiece. "Ahhh! Stop!" Lincoln shrieks from the screeching voices who keep blurting out, "Un jois! Un jois! Un jois! Un jois!"

"Get out! Get out!" Lincoln keeps shouting, to no effect on making the voices flee away from his head.

"Un jois! Un jois! Un jois! Un jois!" they loudly go.

Dipper tries to help him win over from the horrifying voices. "Lincoln, just stay still!" Unfortunately, he also hears the voices too. He tries to cover his ears from the screeching noises, but they are not enough to stop the voices. "Get out!" Both of them crouch to the ground and close their ears tightly.

The voices go on full force as if they are physically trampling the poor youngsters to the ground. Loudly, they go murmuring, ""Un jois! Un jois! Un jois! Un jois!"

In every repeat and every repeat, the boys are on the verge of breaking down. But they firmly stay still. It is not that long that they both scream for the voice to go. And "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" they go. Just the loud modulation of all the voices they hear breaks them down.

Suddenly, someone calls to them, "Boys?"

But the both of them still keep screaming.

"Boys!" that person calls to them loudly.

Finally, they respond to see Connie calling to them. "Dipper! Lincoln! What are you guys doing awake here?"

"Connie! Thank goodness you here!" Dipper spouts hysterically.

Connie then notices Dipper trembling uncontrollably. "Dipper, poor thing. Are you okay?"

In response, Dipper controls his chattering and shakes off his scared tendencies. Sooner, he calms down, "Yeah, I'm good. And Lincoln?"

The two then direct their attention to a still scared-to-death Lincoln. "I…will…not…watch… _It_ …again!"

"Lincoln, buddy, are you okay?" Dipper asks.

But he still chatters frighteningly and uncontrollably, which gives away the answer. With that, Dipper and Connie carry him back to their cabin and to his bunk bed. Even as the concerned twelve-year-old places a blanket over him, Lincoln remains chattering in fear.

"This is not good," Connie remarks. "He should rest. And you too. We should set this aside."

But Dipper fires back, "Connie, can't you see what's going on here? You hear them. I hear them. Lincoln and Chloe hear them. They're hear. I need to find out where those voices came from."

"And what? What you will do next?" Connie replies, to which Dipper tries to mutter a response. "Look Dipper, I'm not saying you're wrong because you're not. But the team needs our leader. We still have the competition tomorrow. We need rest."

But Dipper hard-heartedly refuses. "Connie, I just can't. There's a force out there that is making us draw near to them. For what?! I need to find out to get to the bottom of this."

Nevertheless, Connie appeases to him, "Then let's do it after. I never expected a supernatural around us. But I came here to have fun…with Steven, and Sadie, and Lars, and every one of you guys." She then comforts Dipper by rubbing his back. "Let's take a rest." After that, she proceeds back to her bed.

As for the worried Pines kid, he looks back at the cabin window, with his eyes wondering on the night scenery in front of him, expecting for another supernatural occurrence. After a few minutes, he covers it with the window curtains, prompting him to sleep.

Back then, just outside the cabin of Team #19, the missing girl Phoebe somehow stands with her eyes blank, her thoughts null and her face still before she proceeds back to her cabin. The night's occurrences are of no one's knowledge, except for Dipper and Lincoln.

* * *

The next morning comes immediately to the third competition for camp, which is the tug of war segment. Kevin Levin leads the proceedings. "Campers, you all know what the rope means and what we'll be doing."

Half of the campers whimper, while the rest shout with joy…to overcome that stress.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Kevin calls the attention of the campers. "Tug of war is a team sport. And you all have your teams. It's time to prove you are one." With the blow of his whistle, the games start in the format of elimination.

The first teams that are up are Team #9 and Team #18. In the competition, Team #18, whose members include Carl Wheezer, Gunther from _Kick Buttowski_ and Roach from _Supernoobs_ , get the upper hand, presumably due to their body weight. However, they become no match when the more physically competent members of Team #9, including Jackie Lynn Thomas, Libby Folfax and Ronnie Anne, pull a greater force, prompting them to topple their opponents.

Needless to say, Team #19 is disgruntled when their overweight members pile on top of them.

"Get off, guys! Can't breathe!" Marsha complains.

"I think we need a new strategy," Alya remarks.

At that round, Kevin declares, "Team #8 moves to the next round!" With that, the team cheers.

Next in line is Team #5 vs. Team #12. Generally, it is not much of a competition since Team #5 leader Cindy Vortex is so persuasive in leading her team to push harder. "Come on! Put those hands on the line! Do you want to lose? Show them you don't wanna!"

"We're trying!" Martin Prince whines.

"Yeah! It would help for an energy drink or something," Eddy points out. But unfortunately for his short height, he only can cling on the rope on high.

While Team #12 has the edge, thanks to three energetic creatures on their tail (being Fee from _Harvey Beaks_ , Panini from _Chowder_ and Bunsen), Gaz from Team #5 feels infuriated from Cindy's persuasion that she shrieks and pulls a great amount of force on her end. "AHHHH!" Thus, Team #12 stumbles, and Team #5 gains victory.

"Team #5 wins!" Kevin declares.

However, the rest of Team #5 wait for Gaz to calm down.

"You okay there, Gaz?" Sid asks.

"Gaz, you're alright," Cindy remarks with a pat on her shoulder.

"Just stop being bossy," Gaz grunts before she walks out.

"That's what I call good leadership," Cindy brags.

Right after that, Kevin calls on Team #10 and Team #19 to come forward.

At that signal, the members of Dipper's team who are just by the shade chilling steps forward, while Team #10 energetically enters the arena.

"Alright teams, starting positions," Kevin dictates.

But Bart interrupts the scene. "Hold on their Mr. Campmaster, sir. I believe we have to address a concern about a person with disability."

"What are you talking about?" Kevin asks.

"We have a fellow camper in a wheelchair," Bart, in his prideful academically-inclined posture, talks about their fellow member Pelswick. "You, my old friend Pelswick, wishes to participate in the camp games. But he cannot on this tourney. So what must we do about it?"

"Beat it with your stuck-up ego, Bart!" Lisa complains.

Kevin then looks up at Pelswick, realizing he is right. "Well, perhaps that is true. So, that makes nine members to play."

"But at that amount, we are clearly outnumbered," Bart indicates, right before winking back at his team.

"What the heck is he doing?" Dipper asks suspiciously to himself.

Bart then whispers the rest of the concerns to Kevin, accomplishing his scheme. With that word, Kevin suggests, "Alright, since we have a number issue here, I decide for fairness for one member from Team #19 to stay behind."

The team is definitely trembled by the news.

"I shall pick one. Mr. Howard Weinerman!" As Kevin calls out his name, Howard sadly stay behind for the duration of the game.

"Don't worry fellas! I'll cheer for you!" Howard tells to them. He then turns to see his friend Randy looking at him before going back to plan on his team. "Randy! Buddy! How could you do this?!"

"Nothing personal, Howard!" he dictates, "It is just camp!"

"Teams, move forward!" Kevin instructs the teams. While Team #10 is pumped up, Team #19 is nonetheless passive. Dipper's sigh says so.


	17. Chapter 15: The Tug of War: Portrayal

With the odds never in their favor, thanks partly to Howard being pushed aside, Team #19 gives up hope on getting through with the tug-of-war sequences.

"Okay, this is blindly unfair. They have a guy in a wheelchair, and they think they can request to remove one guys from our team?" Jeff complains. "Nuisance. I call it nuisance."

"Relax, dude. It's just a game. There like more there the coming days," Janna relaxingly reminds him.

"How come you'd be so cool about that?!" Jeff berates at her. "We are last place? And you don't think it matters as a team? As individuals with badges of complacency in this"

"Geesh, that's too much. Need to remind you that this is kind of Game #2, but there's also Game #1, which we sucked at…" Gretchen tells them.

But Dipper convinces them, "Okay guys, I know it's hard for us to get off our losing zone. But win or lose, we just need to do this. We need to show them that we are still a team."

However, Janna kind of takes offense at this. "Oh yeah? Then what do you call breaking down onstage? Because I gotta say, that's smooth delaying tactics there."

"Yeah, and you don't think keeping that mysterious phenomena from us is going to strengthen our teamwork?" Jeff vents at Dipper.

"What are you talking about?" Dipper replies.

"You, Connie, the small girl with the glasses and the dude with the white-haired guy…" Jeff then asks Lincoln, "What's your name again?"

"Uhmmm Lincoln?"

"Right Blinkon! You four are hiding from us with your mental breakdowns, as if you're conspiring against us!"

As the situation against the two gets tense, Connie comes to pacify them. "All right guys, stop! We'll talk about this later."

"Oh, so defending for him, eyy?!" Jeff sneers.

But Connie warns, "Make us win or make us lose? Your pick."

Untimely does such a rift to erupt within Team #19 as Kevin calls the teams to come forward. "Team #10 and Team #19, step forward."

As the teams line up and take grasp on the rope, Kevin explains the mechanics, "Okay, no time limit for this game, but your durations will be recorded. The team who is able to pull the opposing team beyond the red line in the middle gets to the next round. So be ready. At my whistle, in 3…2…" Then, Kevin blows his whistle.

Both teams exert their summed-up force to pull the ropes on their ends. But it is pretty clear that Team #10 gets the upper hand for this round. They have got a teenager with a lethal alter ego as their leader, along with another ring leader with also a lethal alter ego, a disciplined monk, a masked-wrestling kid, a burly ring leader and an infamous school troublemaker on their side. They are certainly no match for the ever-struggling Team #19. But the game should determine if they can still be outpaced.

"Keep it going, guys!" Dipper leads his team. As he looks upon them, the reluctant leader sees the hardship on their faces. From Lincoln behind him, to Tulip, to Baljeet, to Connie, to Janna, to Gretchen, to Chloe, and to Randall, he sees their expressions full of struggle. Dipper then wraps his arms around the rope from his end for his arms to deliver a tighter grip. But the nylon material makes it easier for the rope to slip from him.

Team #19 shows full struggles, as Dipper tries to slide back from crossing the red line. To keep them going, Dipper tells to them, "You know, you guys are right. We are hiding stuff from you."

"Dipper, I don't think this is a good time to say those know," Lincoln insists.

"No, I'm serious. We are hiding stuff from you. It is truly a despicable thing."

"What is it to us?!" Jeff berates at him, causing for him to pull the rope harder, "Do you think we can't handle any secrets?!"

"Well, do I even know you can handle secrets?" Dipper replies, making Jeff understand him.

"What's your point?" Gretchen intervenes.

"If we can share stuff right now…"

"Really? At this time, Dipper!" Connie scolds Dipper.

"Just follow me on this," Dipper convinces, even at the middle of an onslaught of a tug-of-war round. "This is crazy. But it might work. Just think of any petty thing that annoys that you want to fix."

While others are puzzled by Dipper's instruction, Lincoln does so, gathering up the pet peeves that he has in his life. He uses them as motivation to pull the rope even harder.

Connie sees from this that their leverage works in their favor. Thus, she follows suit.

The others see the advantage of this, and they also follow suit. The match exceeds twelve minutes, and the teams are putting the best in their strengths. Other campers gather to witness this. Fifteen minutes have gone by, and the teams are still on the game.

"This too heavy!" Omi utters.

"Let go once and pull right away!" Randy tells them. This makes Team #10 to gain leverage by letting Team #19 have the upper hand, but quickly pulls the rope.

The opposing team feels this effect, and they try to maintain the force.

Dipper sees the red line, but attempts to slide away from touching it. He kicks on the ground, dusts already settling on his legs. To gain more leverage, he leans to the rocky soil, trying to withstand the powerful force from their opponents. But that helps less for the team as Team #10 exerts greater momentum.

The campers glance on that gripping moment if ever Dipper crosses the red line. It is just half a pace away, and the reluctant leader leans his feet away from it, even though his body hovers about the line.

The rest of the kids cheer for Team #19. The team tries as much to pull the rope for the entire seventeen minutes. But it is not enough to bring down the combining forces of Randy, Bart, Henry, Omi, PJ, Ricochet, Skeeter, Todd and Tyler, who, unfortunate for Team #19, manage to slip the rope and defeat them.

"Team #10 takes the game!" Kevin declares. The cheers die down for Dipper's team, but a few come to cheer for the winning team.

But as for Team #19, they drop themselves to the grassy ground, exhausted from the game.

"That was too close! I could almost have it!" Jeff complains.

"You could add some weight next time," Janna suggests sarcastically.

"Looking who's blaming who!" he strikes back.

But Dipper intervenes, "Nope guys, no one's blaming anyone. We did a great job. We all did. Great job, team! No victory? It doesn't matter. At least we showed who we are. Great job!"

"Yeah, we deserve it," Connie utters exhaustingly.

Chloe then notices rashes on the palm of her hands. "Guys, do you have moisturizer?"

Connie then comes to her aid. "Oh dear. Here." She then pulls out a hand lotion from her pocket and pour it on Chloe's palms.

"Thanks Connie!" Chloe expresses her gratitude, to which Connie nods.

Howard then approaches to them in a late notice. "Guys, that was huge. Sorry I wasn't there. I should have demanded. It's kind of unfair, you guys have…to pull the notches."

"It's okay. It's not your fault. We're fine," Dipper assures.

"So…you guys wanna hangout by the mess hall? It's open for this time."

* * *

At Howard's suggestion, Team #19 retreats to the mess hall for a cup of frozen yogurt with fruit toppings and confectionery add-ons of their choice. The games are ongoing, but they decide to wait it out. Glad that the snacks right now being served are nutritious supplements from the physical activity.

"I gotta say, this is better than Pinkberry," Howard shares.

"Pinkberry is processed dairy. Well, all dairy is, but not this fast food processed," Janna sardonically replies.

"Nahh, at least there's something healthy about the jellybeans I picked," Jeff adds.

"Kind of ironic that Pinkberry would add candy to their healthy yogurt," Lincoln comments.

"I'll say. I'd rather avoid dairy. Makes the bones healthy but kills the lactose intolerant," Janna shares.

"Man, that's dark," Howard replies.

"I know."

"Why do you seem chill about saying about being 'killed'?"

"Not that I'm unconcerned. Just don't put too much concern."

"Oh yeah, what if one of your friends, let's say, is in trouble? A mugger per se?"

"My friends? Back in my place?"

"Mhmm…"

"They're good. And if you think on messing with them, she'll zap you into a puppy."

"What?"

"Star Butterfly? Captain of Team #8? She'll sure zap you if you mess with her."

"Ohhh…well, I take your word."

"Good, 'cause I don't want to exploit the fact that your pal Randy is a…"

Not wanting to conceal that secret, Howard blocks Janna from saying it. "No! No! No! No way!"

"What's going on there?" Connie asks them.

Howard then hysterically gives his excuse, "Nothing, we're just talking about…how to make fire. By zapping the wood and boom, burn!"

"Yeah, don't make me think that I know what you guys are talking about," Jeff replies.

"Don't even dare!" Howard warns him.

"Well, if there's something that we need to know, you can tell us," Connie insists.

"Nothing, just…something," Howard defends. Suddenly, he falls on top of Janna. "AHHHH!" The latter pushes Howard away, startled at such an awkward moment. "Sorry, didn't expect that."

"Get a room, you two," Gretchen utters.

"Uhmmm…where did you learn that language?" Baljeet asks nervously.

Because of that, Gretchen would not gasp another word. "Uhmmm…blame the internet."

Feeling the growing rapport of the team, Dipper decides to take the lead. "Okay, let's change topic."

"How about we play a game?" Connie suggests.

Then Lincoln suggests, "How about this? We share our thoughts, then we rate of which of it is the best. Like the best movie you've watched. We share the best movies ever. And we see which of them the best is. Like that."

"So, it's more of a bragging contest?" Howard clarifies.

"Exactly," Lincoln answers, to which Howard nods.

"So, what's the catch?" Gretchen asks. "What do we get?"

"Uhmmm bragging rights?" Lincoln answers.

Even if that is such a halfhearted answer, Gretchen nevertheless agrees. "Okay, let's do it."

"What first?" Baljeet asks.

"How about the most aggravating pet peeve we encountered?" Lincoln suggests, to which the kids find themselves challenged.

"Alright, me first," Jeff insists, "Clarence's drool at my face. We slept a bunk bed one summer. And his drool just landed on my face. And I swallowed it."

Hearing that story, the kids shudder in repugnance.

"I know…" Jeff utters.

"My turn," Janna says, "Marco's diary. He wrote about everything daily. And I mean everything."

"Like?" Chloe asks.

"You don't need to know," Janna reiterates.

Dipper takes his turn, "Well, for me, that doppelganger of mine who tries to be 'cool and hip'. Ughhh, he's so…stupid!"

"Were you cloned?" Lincoln asks.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe how crazy it is that I have a lot of doppelgangers from last summer," Dipper says.

Interested, Lincoln replies, "Let's talk later."

"Who's next?"

Baljeet then raises his hand. "Me! I like to share that I hate someone erasing my computations on the chalkboard when I'm not yet done."

"Hmmm, not bad," Gretchen replies. "But that won't beat this. McGee calling me princess."

"Yeah, I would not imagine that, dude," Janna reacts.

"Okay, for me, people spoiling about the Narnia series," Connie shares.

"Really? What book are you now?" Lincoln asks.

" _The Magician's Nephew_ ," Connie answers.

"At least you get to read the first Narnia books," Howard pouts. "Me, I have to search for _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ for my book report. Until now, I haven't found it."

"That's a weird choice for a book report," Baljeet reacts.

"I know, right?" Howard replies.

But Lincoln cuts it. "Well, mine is Dutch ovens…from my sister. Now, who can beat that?"

"How about mine?" Chloe interrupts, "I saw this new coffee at the cupboard of my house. I need energy for my college project, so I drank one cup. That is when my mom told me the next morning that the coffee was actually made from…jackal dung."

Lincoln is shocked at this reveal. "You serious?"

"Yes, I searched it on my online library. It turns out that there are people who in fact produce coffee from jackal dung. Or any dung from a carnivore."

While the others are having fun, Tulip notices her palms shuffling the two digits. "Why this keeps happening?" At that turn, it stops at "06". "Six? What does '6' mean?"

Because of her attention elsewhere, Dipper calls her out, "Tulip, it's your turn."

"Uhmm for what?" she asks.

"We are sharing what stuff we are most aggravated about," Baljeet answers, "So what's yours?"

She stutters, trying to think of what she can answer. It is pretty clear she has nothing to share. "Uhmmm well…I do…"

And if that is not enough interrupting, Kevin Levin races to the scene. "Hi! Team #19?"

"Yeah?" Dipper answers.

"I just want to share that you guys advanced to the 2nd level."

"What?!"

"Yeah, another team almost made it, but they had to back out," Kevin explains. "And since your match against Team #10 has been the longest, we evaluated your stats, and you're in."

"You heard that team? We're in!" Hearing that news, Team #19 rejoices.

"Well, I'm glad. But you need to be in the field now," Kevin instructs.

"But I have to ask, what happened to the other team?" Dipper asks.

"Two of their members had heat stroke. I think it was between Team #6 and Team #20," Kevin explains, "Team #6 won but one girl, I think she was in braces. Well, she suddenly passed out, followed by another. We had to bring her to the infirmary and we examined it was heat stroke."

At his explanation, Dipper quickly realizes who suffered from the heat stroke. With that, he runs to the infirmary.

"Dipper!" Connie calls her.

"I'll get him," Lincoln says. "You guys go to the field." He then goes to chase after Dipper, who is hoping that the person being referred to is safe.


	18. Chapter 16: The Tug of War: Retribution

In a whim, Dipper and Lincoln rush to Team #6's whereabouts in a makeshift infirmary near the tug-of-war grounds. After passing through other campers, they finally reach the area, where they also spot Rhonda, who is groaning about her team's fate, while being comforted by Elena Potato.

With no hesitation, the 13-year-old and his accomplice burst to the scene, making the team and the facilitators surprised.

Dipper is instantly shocked to see Mabel Pines unconscious. "Mabel! Mabel!" he hollers, "Is she okay?"

Ben Tennyson replies, "She'll be fine. She needs some rest. And let her avoid the heat."

"What happened?" Dipper asks to Ben.

"Heat stroke," Ben states, "It happened during the games. The heat was too intense. Well, it's common for outdoor games."

"But she'll be okay right?"

Despite his desperation, Dipper only watches still as the staff resuscitates her. It is just truly drastic to see loved ones with a breathing tube on their mouths and a couple of paramedics surrounding them. It almost comes across as if a deadly ailment might come across.

As a brother, and the one most responsible for his sister's well-being on this situation, it is truly disheartening to realize that he should have been there to save her. He can only utter in hopelessness, "Mabel…"

Along the sidelines, Lincoln wonders, "Man, heat stroke, that's really possible in the wilderness."

"It is," Ben replies. "So, it's water and sunblock for you, kids."

"But we'll she be fine?" Lincoln asks.

"Heat stroke is not that severe. So, she will make it. Hope goes the same for the other kid." Ben the points Clyde who was confined to a far corner, where he tries to recover from dizziness and passing out, with Sunset Shimmer nursing him.

Instantly, Lincoln approaches to his best friend. "Clyde! Clyde!" But he gets no response. He then asks Sunset Shimmer, "Is he okay?"

"Nurse said he'll be good," Sunset Shimmer replies, "Heat stroke too. But he needs for a while."

Lincoln then turns back to his best buddy, "Clyde, can you hear me?"

In a few moments, Clyde blinks his eyes, trying to open it wide. Slowly and slowly, he sees his best friend from Royal Woods in front of him. "Lincoln…buddy…?"

"Hey Clyde! Clyde! You okay, buddy?"

"Hey Lincoln…guess what…I…black…out…Hehehe…Get it?"

It is kind of odd for someone with a case like heat stroke to still be cranking out jokes. But that is one catch that springs out of the Clincoln McLoud tandem. To that, Lincoln just chuckles. "Yeah…that's…good."

Then, the two share laughs.

Dipper can only glance at them with the desire that he can give back the same way to his sister.

Peculiarly enough, Mabel suddenly utters while her eyes are shut, "Black out? Come on. That's just too cheesy to brie-ng thought on." Which does question if Mabel can sense bad jokes, even in unconsciousness.

But whatever the case, everyone is overjoyed, most especially Dipper, to see her awake.

"Mabel!" Dipper quickly embraces his twin sister and comforts her.

"Hey…where am I?"

"Just the infirmary."

"You fainted during the tug-of-war match. But you're good," Ben explains to her, "You just need rest."

Everybody is relived with the sight of Mabel regaining consciousness. Even their leader Rhonda, who received that news on time, bursts in relief after hearing the news. "Thank goodness. You're good! Our team is not a failure."

Even with such an awkward interlude, it is truly a relief for the team, and for Dipper.

"Just hang in there. I'll be back," he advises his sister.

But she assures to him, "Dip, I'm fine. I had fun. Well, sorta, but you know what I mean."

Dipper wishes to stay with his sister to assist in her recovery. But the situation does not warrant it.

"Hey…uhmmm…Dipper, you're being called now in the games. Your team is at the field," Ben reminds him.

Before he leaves, Dipper promises to her, "I'll come back for you, Mabel." And then he persuades Team #6, "Guys, please do me a favor to take care of my sister. Thanks."

Lincoln then follows him from behind. "You're really close to your sister?"

"Twin sister. We had a long way back then. We need each other. So it's my responsibility to keep her safe," Dipper shares.

"Gosh, now I know how you feel…"

"You did say you have sisters?"

"I do."

"Alright. And say if one of them had an injury or something. And you just want to help them, but just couldn't. Or nothing else you can add to help them. What would you do?"

"Well, I don't know. There's nothing much to do. Best I can do is think or care or devote sometime for any of them. Surely, they'll inspire me in everything I do."

"That's exactly what we're going to do."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the gaming grounds, Team #19 is still waiting for Dipper and Lincoln to arrive, as the match between Twilight Sparkle's Team #3 and Helga Pataki's Team #15 takes place.

"Where are they?" Jeff groans.

"Will you stop and chill? Save your energy for later," Janna advises him.

"Yes, as in the next match!"

But Connie intervenes. "Okay Jeff, stop it."

On the sidelines, Chloe spots them approaching to their whereabouts. "Guys, there they are. I see them!"

Hearing that, Team #19 spot the two as well. Dipper and Lincoln end up sliding to the grassy ground from such a rush. Connie and Howard pick them up.

"Dipper, where have you been?" Baljeet asks.

"Long story," Dipper answers. He then faces his team, this time seeing them with hope and optimism that they can go further from they are. Feeling the heat of the moment, Dipper motivates them, "Alright team, we have been given a chance to win this. And we can't waste this…game…or moment. I know, I might not good at any inspiring speech or what. But you get it. We can seize this moment."

Howard then adds to the support, "Yeah! Well, even if we are losers…let's show who them who they call losers!"

"Alright, hands in the middle!" After that encouragement, a full-spirited Dipper encourages the team, "Okay, Team #19 go! 1! 2! 3!"

"Team #19 GO!"

And the game is on. After Team #15 takes the gold from Team #3, Team #19 steps in the field, along with their opponent, Team #5, which Cindy Vortex, Gaz, Spinelli and Manny Rivera is a part of.

The match is tense as both parties get their footing from the opposing forces on their ends. For Dipper's team, they have the stronger members, Howard and Janna for this case, at the back to release the most force the team needs. It is tricky for them to outpace the opposing team, which has four strong, no-nonsense females and one boy with a superhero alter ego that generate most of their force.

Dipper tries to take a whole grip of the rope before he steps on the red line, which is a foot away from him. He takes his right foot backwards, trying to pull the rope to their direction.

Connie, who is right behind him, sees this and says to the rest, "Guys, take a step backwards!"

"We can't!" Tulip shrieks. Suddenly, her right palm starts to light up again. "What now?!" Frustrated, she sees what two-digit number comes out, only to be interrupted by Connie.

"Just do it guys! We're almost there!" Connie exclaims. "Step back! And don't let go!"

With that, everyone goes along with Connie's insistence. And as everyone takes a hard step back to get a haul on the rope, the opposing team senses the struggle. Thankfully so, as this move is enough to bring down the opposing team. They are greeted with thundering cheers and applauses for this unprecedented victory. Not even the team foresee this.

The whole afternoon goes along with the other matches between Team #10 (the all-boys team that beat them in the first place) and Team #16 (another all-boys team), Team #9 (a physically fit team) and Team #17 (an all-girls team), and Team #1 (where Marco Diaz belonged to) and Team #8 (where Star Butterfly belonged to); Team #10, Team #9 and Team #1 win their own matches, respectively.

That sure would not create an aftermath on some of the campers, like Star, who takes a begrudging to her best friend Marco.

"Look Star, there's are ins and outs on leading a team," he brags smoothly, but Star gets infuriated about it, "So, there's a next time. In the meantime, why don't you chill while I chill to my team."

As Marco slides away, Star explodes in range in front of her team. "THIS. CAN'T. HAPPEN. AGAIN!"

Thankfully, Rarity calms her, "Relax, it's not the end of the road. If it will, then…at least don't scare us."

Needless to say, the team has to get used to Star's sudden rages, especially Steven, who is even scared at his leader. "I really should have stayed on music camp."

* * *

Back to ball game, all five teams take part in the elimination round, where four other teams have to beat the team that scored the fastest record during the semi-finals. It is announced that it was Team #15 takes the top position, followed by Team #1, Team #10, Team #19 and Team #9.

For the first match, it is of course the Dipper pack against Team #10 once again.

"Well, wouldn't you know? It's the team we beat," Bart snarls at them, "So, ready for another losing streak?"

"Yeah, losers…in a losing streak! Haha!" Omi snarls along with him. "Don't you think we have become too evil? Because I have…"

"Little shaolin warrior, it is not evil when you're doing it for the team."

"Oh right, right."

Kevin Levin steps in to proceed with the next match, "Okay fellas, as usual, we have to give chance to Team #10 for having 9 suitable members. So, I don't know how you will pick up on the obstacle course when you have a wheelchair-bound member. So, I will pick who gets to sit in the bench." After observing Team #19, Kevin picks Chloe. "You. For the next game."

"Me?" Chloe replies.

Thanks to that, Team #19 cheers that they have enough advantage over Team #10, with Howard retained. Team #10 can only look on this with skepticism

"Just hang in there, Chloe. We'll win this," Dipper says.

"Thanks," she replies, "Go team!"

Afterwards, with a blow of the whistle, the match starts. Team #10 takes an immediate grip on the rope and hauls it to their side. Team #19 tries to evade this, using the same technique they used previously. Though, the force they exerted increases from their previous attempt. As before, Howard and Janna take the aim from behind, while Dipper and Connie prevent the team from stepping on and beyond the red line.

Minutes gone by, and the teams retain their stance. At Team #10's end, the boys take up the strategy of letting go off the rope to haul it back to them. But, it backfires when at the time they nearly let go, Team #19 takes the aim and pulls the rope firmly to their side. In the end, Team #10 falls near the red line, and Team #19 achieves victory, prompting them to move to the next round against Team #1, who won their match.

Now, the real battle is on.


	19. Chapter 17: The Forest

For the semi-finals, it is the all-powerful Team #1 pitted against the real-life underdogs Team #19. All teams are positioned on the gaming grounds, with each of them taking a grip on the nylon rope. Other teams stand by to witness this spectacle.

With the anticipation rising, Dipper looks back at his teammates, "Hey…we came a long way. But, we did it. Well, this is our chance to prove ourselves. And whether we lose or not, it's not the end. Let's go team!"

"Hah!" Team #19 hollers.

Kevin then blows his whistle to start off the round. All teams throw out their strength to keep the rope afoot on their sides. Dust kicking around and the force projected to the rest of the campers' faces, the heat is on.

This is a tricky round for the less athletically inclined Team #19 since Team #1 is composed of a well-known model with a superhero alter ego, a tough adventurer from a phantasmagorical land, a silent but deadly inventor, an egocentric speedster, an aggressive female sidekick, a sword-slinging warrior, a young adrenaline junkie, a fun-loving troublemaker with a superhero alter ego, a girl experienced to too many dangers and a pessimistic but active karate expert. So, the odds to beat them are most unlikely. Still, that does not stop Team #19 for trying, even with when Dipper is getting near to the red line.

"Just take all while you can!" Dipper motivates his team, making them exert every effort to haul the rope to their side. But that is not enough to bring down Team #1, who eventually bring them down on approximately four minutes and 27 seconds.

"Team #1 takes it to the finals!" Kevin declares, and the team goes wild, so as their supporters.

Meanwhile, the members of Team #19 get up from having tumbled by the opposing team.

Marco Diaz assists Dipper and his teammates. "You guys good?"

"Yeah, doing great," Dipper confirms.

"Actually, slightly," Howard corrects him. "I think I squashed Jeff."

And it is true when Jeff tries to get up and stay conscious. "I think I might have broken a tooth," he blurs in a cartoonish way.

"Well, we're all good…kinda," Dipper reiterates.

"Yeah, forgive us for being too competitive. Some players just can't play fair," Marco beseeches.

"It is fine, Marco."

"Well, still, good job, Team #19." Marco then shakes Dipper's hand as an act of sportsmanship.

* * *

After that tenure, Team #19 retires to the sidelines and watch to see who will win between Team #1 and Team #15. They can all sigh to the fact that they end up at 3rd place, already an achievement for any team.

Just as all eyes stay glued on the proceedings, Dipper, keeping his promise to Mabel, returns to her in the infirmary. The staff have her cool down with fans around, an ice pack to her forehead and a tumbler of ice cold water to compensate for her dehydration.

"Mabel?" Dipper calls.

"Dipper, how did it go?" she responds.

"We won," Dipper reveals, "Well, third place."

"Well, at least it's a third place. It's still a win-win!" Mabel points out, to which Dipper gives a gaze at.

The twin brother then embraces his sister. "Don't worry, we can still together."

After that brief encounter, Dipper gets back to his team, who are staring at the tally board for the games.

"What's going on here?" he asks them.

"It's the points, dude. Look!" Howard points to their standing on the overall team score.

Team #1 = 550

Team #3 = 500

Team #4 = 420

Team #17 = 410

Team #15 = 400

Team #2 = 390

Team #8 = 390

Team #10 = 380

Team #16 = 360

Team #9 = 310

Team #11 = 270

Team #7 = 260

Team #5 = 250

Team #6 = 250

Team #18 = 250

Team #20 = 250

 **Team #19 = 200**

Team #12 = 170

Team #14 = 100

Team #13 = 90

"Man, that sucks," Jeff comments.

"I have been through worse things," Janna randomly replies. "This ain't one of them."

"Come on guys, well, at least we are not last," Dipper motivates them. "If it weren't for that second chance, we would really end up dead last."

"Well, there's something worth celebrating here," Lincoln says, to which the group the agrees. Indeed, they are one of the least performing groups, but that does not stop them from celebrating with cans of root beer and shish kebab for the night.

Dipper gives out the toast, "This one is for third place and…not losing to last place. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" It is all merry for the meantime for Team #19.

Lincoln then notices Chloe taking the kebab little by little. "Hey Chloe, everything okay?"

"Oh, yep. Yes. Yes, I am. Just thinking too deep," Chloe stutters while she takes big bites of the kebab.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, nothing. It's just that you need it, if you need to pass philosophy class. It is kind of new, with the new world thinking and everything Descartes and Chomsky."

"I don't get your point. But why would you study philosophy?"

"Oh. Part of my college curriculum."

"You are studying in college?"

"Mhm."

"Wow, you're just like my younger sister. Only she's four when she finished college in Harvard. So, I don't know what's weirder."

Chloe chuckles at that. "Well, I'm sure glad I'm not the only kid in college." Then the two share a laugh. That is until the young Korean-American feels a sensation in her stomach. "Ohhhh…mmmm…"

"Chloe, are you okay?" Lincoln asks.

But Chloe only replies in her groans.

"Guys, we need help here!" At Lincoln's signal, the group gets interrupted with their chatter, and Connie and Dipper come to her aid.

"We'll be back!" Dipper says, "Janna, Howard, take charge!" The three then take Chloe to the infirmary for immediate medication. But just as they haste on several paces, Chloe stops.

"Chloe, tell us. What do you feel?" Connie asks her.

Again, Chloe groans, since she tries her best to move her mouth to ease the sensation.

"Come on Chloe, tell us what we can do?" Dipper asks her.

"I think she's gonna throw up," Lincoln replies.

At the point, the young girl's sensation reaches to a boiling point. And then, she just belches. She belches one more time, and for another time.

"Oh, it's…just a burp," Dipper reacts.

"Are you alright?" Connie asks her.

"Mhmm," Chloe confirms in relief, "I never belched that much before."

"Probably the root beer. And the spicy kebab," Dipper deduces, "Had that once."

"Man, I tend to feel that every time I burp, I feel I wanna throw up," Lincoln shares.

"You too?" Dipper replies.

"Yeah, especially with the Mexican food," Lincoln responds. "Though they sometimes go below."

"The important thing is it's not a hurl, and Chloe's okay," Connie concludes.

But just as relief came in the way, they hear something approaching from the bushes. Surprised, the four become still to expect the unexpected.

As the bush begins to shake, Dipper slowly moves towards it. The mystery trying to be uncovered has already returned to his senses. And with his right hand, he flips the bush to see nothing.

"Huh? Nothing," Dipper utters, "Well, that seems pointless."

But as he turns back to his teammates, he suddenly sees a cloaked deathly creature of black, floating behind his friends. "GUYS, LOOK OUT!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Immediately, they run away from the dementor-like creature. Fear trembles over them. And ever did they stop from running away from the creature. But little did they realize that they are moving far away from the camp grounds, and deeper they go to the woods.

Eventually, they stop, trying to catch their breaths from what just happened.

"I think we lost it!" Connie pants.

"What was that?!" Lincoln screams.

"I don't know! I don't know!" Dipper answers hysterically, "But that's the thing we need to solve here. There's something out there that's messing with us on camp. And we need to get to bottom of this!"

After few breaths from the poor kids, they take their time to think about the circumstance.

"I am with Dipper," Lincoln says.

Then Connie gives her opinion, "Look Dipper, I know. I sense it too. But this shouldn't stop you on your duties as leader. And for the team."

"I know. That's why I'm scared too," Dipper responds, "But that shouldn't stop from finding out what's going on. That didn't stop me in Gravity Falls. That shouldn't stop me here." He then proposes, "Alright, the four of us, unless we know what's this supernatural thing, we must work together." To solidify that pact, he places his hand on the middle, along with Lincoln, Chloe and finally Connie. "And we must need help."

However, that moment is ruined when they hear someone emerging from the bushes. The four quickly hide on the nearest bush to see a familiar face passing by.

"Wait, that's Riley," Dipper recognizes. But what is striking to him is her blank face.

"You know that girl?" Lincoln asks.

"She seems different," Dipper utters.

"And she must be walking…strange," Chloe observes her unusual, robotic movements.

"Let's go." At that signal, the four lurks closely to where the girl is walking towards.


	20. Chapter 18: They Come at Night

The four follow Riley Daring in the best way possible to be stealthy. Her path is surrounded with bushes and trees. So, Dipper crawls his way through the foliage. Lincoln tiptoes his way through the bushes. Connie keeps her on the girl from the trees. And Chloe follows Dipper's way. They keep track of her strolling until they hear a snap from a twig behind them. They hide behind a tree with a hollow concave-shaped root. The unknown creature rustles from the bushes, coming towards their direction.

Dipper picks up a nearby stick with a sharp end and readies to aim at the creatures. The noise gets nearer and nearer. And the group leans more to the tree.

Lincoln looks from his behind to see Riley vanished from thin air. "Dipper, she's gone."

"What?" he gasps.

Then suddenly, a dark carnivorous creature attacks them. The group goes screaming, but Dipper directs the stick towards the creature. The monster has the appearance of a bear but has no snout nor eyes. Its claws and teeth are the only parts visible in the dark from the fierce creature. It feeds on Dipper's stick and eventually breaks it to half.

Dipper aims with the other half of his stick. But the creature lunges towards the diminutive hero, still mustering the courage from his frightened teammates.

But unexpectedly, Tulip slides to the front of the creature and shows the palm of her left hand, projecting the number 23 to the beast. Immediately, the unknown hairy leviathan feels weakness from the number and immediately storms off to the woods.

"You guys are okay?" Tulip checks out her teammates.

"Tulip, why…? How…did you get here?" Dipper is at a loss for words.

"I have my alone times here," Tulip answers.

"What did you to the creature?" Lincoln asks.

"Oh. I showed them this." She then shows the number 23 glowing from her left hand. "It's a long story. My palm, well, it shows different numbers. I don't know why but it does. It kept changing when I got here. And this…thing stopped the creatures here."

"Creatures here?" Connie asks.

"Yeah. There are many of them in the woods. And I mean not just that thing."

"What else did you see?" Dipper asks her with a sense of urgency.

"A lot. Some I can't describe. They usually appear in the night."

The Team #19 leader then steps up. "Alright, we know what the danger is here, guys. There are creatures out there, who are hunting us. We really need to get to the bottom of this."

"Yes, we know Dipper," Connie interrupts. "Can we talk about this in the morning? At least?"

"Connie, can't you realize this is a matter of life and death?"

"I know. But how can we manage to stop an army of creatures we barely know at all with just us? We don't know any of them."

"Yes, but we have Tulip in our side."

But Tulip somehow hesitates on tagging along with the team. She shrugs. "That's good and all. But I'm not really the saving-the-world type."

"Well, we're just want to know what you really saw," Chloe states.

Even with that, Tulip seems adamant to cooperate. "Yeah, but it's just that…"

Suddenly, another creature, similar to the one earlier, knocks Tulip to the side and lets her hit a nearby tree.

"TULIP!" they scream. Dipper and Lincoln arm themselves with branches and beat the creature up, just as it returns for Tulip. Disturbed, the creature jumps on Lincoln but he protects himself from the stick. He forces the stick to the beast, just as Dipper strikes the creature again. The creature now attacks Dipper.

Connie executes an on-the-spot plan by tightening some vines from a tree and landing on top of the creature to tie it to its body. It comes to a surprise to her that her interaction with the beast, now growling mad, does not infect her skins. She ties the vines tight and makes a run for it. The beast chases her, until the vines chain it to the tree. Back and forth, the creature tries to break free.

The four guard it in case it makes its escape. But on its twelfth push, the tree is suddenly uprooted, and it falls on top of the beast. The group dodges it, just as the creature lies below the tree, dead.

"Did we just…? Did…?" Chloe stutters.

"Yes. We did," Dipper frighteningly answers.

"Wait, where's Tulip?" Connie gives her concern. They rush to an injured Tulip by the tree.

"Tulip, are you okay?!" Dipper asks.

"Oh, hey…" Tulip tries to mouth her words from the impact on her back. "Where's the creature?"

"It's gone. We gotta get her back!" Immediately, Dipper, Lincoln and Connie carry Tulip back to the camp grounds and towards the infirmary. The facilitators escort her in immediately and tend to her injury.

"What happened to you guys? Where you've been?" Danny asks in concern.

The group, not wanting to expose their activity, try to come up of an excuse.

"Well, we're…walking. Then, Tulip…fell…on a log," Lincoln explains, ending with a nervous beam.

"Guys, do me a favor and do put yourselves into trouble," a concerned Danny pleads to them. "Your team has done way too much to bring much trouble."

Dipper feels offended by his remark. "So, does that mean if we have done so much trouble, you'll stop helping us?"

"No…" Danny hesitates to answer. "Just please do us a favor." He heads to the treatment area to assist for Tulip, leaving the team hopeless and uncertain.

They eventually head back to their cabin, but Dipper is too determined to unearth the mysterious phenomena within the camp. He heads out but Connie catches him.

"Dipper, can we just leave this for the night and do it tomorrow?" she insists.

"Connie, don't you see? We are staying at a campsite, surrounded by monsters out there, who either can be extraterrestrial or supernatural, or anything that is bound to kill us! I can't just sleep it off and do nothing and learn the next day that someone died!"

"Dipper, if you can just let it…"

"No, I won't let it…"

"Dipper, please if…"

"No, Connie! Life's at stake here! You can't just…"

At the peak of Dipper's frustration, Connie unintentionally slaps him. Lincoln and Chloe are left at shock. In turn does so Dipper. "You're not the only person concerned! Me too! But how can we stop them? Let's just rest this first…I can't take much of tonight. I'm sorry…" She then walks hurriedly back to the cabin, ashamed of what she has done.

The three of them still stand shocked.

"Well, you heard her," Dipper commands the two. They immediately comply, leaving Lincoln behind.

He still has concerns tucked to his conscience. He looks upon the mist-filled void, reeling what could those creatures earlier could be and what other strangeness could surround this part of the Yellowstone National Park. Even with that heavy of a mystery, Lincoln finally agrees on Connie and walks back to his cabin to rest.

* * *

On the next day, things go heavy for the team, or at least the main four. Dipper is seated at the far right of their table, while Connie is seated at the far left. Chloe is sat beside Connie. Baljeet, Gretchen, Howard and Jeff notice the tension.

"Is everything okay here?" Howard awkwardly asks.

"No, we're good. We're good," Dipper nervously assures. "Just…just continue eating?"

Jeff then notices something. "Hey, where's that girl? You know? Orange-haired…what's her name again?"

"You mean Tulip?" Janna finishes for him.

"Yeah, where's she?"

"She's…taking a break, but she'll be back," Dipper again nervously assures. The three then shrug it off and continue eating.

Lincoln eventually sits beside Dipper with news. "Hey, so they say her injury was not that grave. So she'll be getting back in no time."

"Well, that's good to hear."

"There's one more thing about her hand. They kind of changed. The numbers I meant. First, there was 19. And there was 11. I don't what it means but I think they do."

"Yeah. They might, just like the rest of this place." Suddenly, Dipper spots Riley Daring, perfectly fine and normal as she heads to the table of her team. "Hold on a minute, Lincoln." Seeing that, he quickly approaches her. "Hey Riley! Can I…?"

"Oh, Dipper! Isn't this a pleasant morning," she greets him sweetly. "How are you?"

"Okay, can you excuse me, so I can talk to her girls?" he asks her team.

"Just be quick," Penny Proud replies.

With that, Dipper drags Riley to a corner in the mess room.

"Dipper, what's going on? You know I can just follow you to where you are taking me," Riley says.

"Please be honest with me, Riley, because this is very important that I need to know this," Dipper requests.

Riley feels herself unsure at his confrontation. "Uhmm…okay?"

"We saw you late last night in the woods."

"What?"

"Yes, we saw you walking in the woods. And your arms are weird. Almost like a robot or something. And you disappeared suddenly."

"Dipper, I slept early last night. Around 9:30pm. Why would I be wandering around in the woods that time?"

"Really? You don't remember anything?"

"Come on, Dipper."

"So you didn't walk in the woods last night?"

"No, Dipper. Don't be ridiculous. Maybe it is some lookalike I may not have known of. But if I may have a doppelganger, I would totally freak out now. But yeah…sorry."

With no answers at hand, Dipper raises more questions from this case, like "was it Riley they saw last night?", "why did that person wander around the woods in robot-like posture?" and "how did she disappear?" He heads back to the table to share this concern to Lincoln. "That wasn't Riley last night. There could be a more reasonable explanation for that."

"So, what do we do now?" Lincoln asks.

"We investigate." Dipper gets up from his seat to head back to the cabin. "You coming?"

"How about Connie and Chloe?"

"Let's leave the two for a moment."

"Yeah, but who'll watch over the team?"

With that concern at hand, Dipper approaches Chloe, who is consoling Connie with her face on the table, and asks her a favor. "Chloe, Lincoln and I will head back to the cabin. Okay?"

"Are you guys going back to investigate?" Chloe questions him.

Dipper finally admits, "Look, there's something out there that we have to know. We'll try to get back in time."

"Alright."

"Okay. But if we don't…" Dipper then pulls out a pocket button and gives it to Chloe. "…press this button immediately. Only if McKlein is insisting. Or if you need us the most. Okay?"

Chloe agrees to the plan. And Dipper and Lincoln head back to the cabin for supplies.

All the while, Milo Murphy, along with his Team #11, approaches Team #19. "Team #19?"

"Yes?" Janna answers for the team.

"Hi! I'm Milo Murphy! And this is my team, Team #10. We would like to offer an extended relationship with your team. That is if you haven't got into an alliance yet."

"Extended relationship?" Chloe raises.

Connie suddenly wakes up and asks, "Did you say alliance?"

"Yes," Milo answers. "They said one of the games will be a team battle."

"So, some teams are forming alliances so they can beat other teams," Chloe Carmichael explains. "It really sounds unfair to an extent."

Milo continues, "So we wish to form our own as well with other groups. And we would like to ask you. So…are you in?" He happily reaches out his hand to Connie.

Connie is unsure if they should accept it, since Dipper takes the final decision. He has yet to learn about the happenings. But she thinks he is less interested on taking the lead.

* * *

Meanwhile, back to Dipper and Lincoln, they set up a backpack and load necessary trekking gear for their eventual investigation.

"Everything here?" Dipper asks.

"Flashlight, map, compass, flares..." Lincoln dictates.

"Flares?"

"For emergency."

"Alright, let's go."

Unexpectedly, a voice calls for them from the window. "I see you boys are in such a hurry."

The boys immediately freeze when they hear that voice. They slowly turn their heads behind to see a man in silhouette facing them. But the person is rather quadrilateral in shape.

"Who are you?" Dipper asks.

The person from the voice emerges from the dark, revealing it to be none other than SpongeBob Squarepants, "Hello boys. SpongeBob here. I'm here to talk about the Campers Initiative."


End file.
